


50 Shades of Tony

by Virodeil



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Age Difference, Age Regression/De-Aging, Alien Childbirth, Alternate Universe - Babies, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe – Twins, Angst/Drama, BAMF Tony Stark, Baking, Big-Brother Syndrome SHIELD, Birthday, Bittersweet, Broken Bucky Barnes, Broken Preconceptions, Caring, Changing lives forever, Character Development, Character Study, Chatting & Messaging, Childhood Trauma, Children, Children of Characters, Codependency, Complicated Relationships, Conflict Management 101, Confusions Abound, Contemplation, Contracts, Conveniently Inconvenient Storms, Conversation, Creature Inheritance (sort of), Cross-cultural, Cuddling and Snuggling, Cultural Appropriation, Cultural Differences, Cultural References, Culture Shock, Dark Past, Deals, Defying Expectation, Denial of Feelings, Depression, Developing Friendships, Disguise, Domestic, Don’t Have to Know Canon, Drabble Series, Escapism, Eventual Happy Ending, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family History, Family Issues, Family Member Death, Family Reunions, Family Secrets, Fate Worse Than Death, Fear, Fictional Religion & Theology, Fictional language, Fluffy Flavours, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Gender Confusion, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Issues, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Indonesia, Indonesian Character, Intersex Jotunn (Marvel), Intimacy, Jotunn Biology (Marvel), Jotunn Culture, Jotunn Physiology, Jotunn Tony Stark, Jotunn | Frost Giant, Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Kid Loki, Letters, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Lost child found, Mad Science, Meet the Family, Mental Breakdown, Minor Character Deaths, Miscommunication, Mistakes, Misunderstandings, Multiple headcanons, Mutual Pining, Mystery, New York, New York City, Non-Canon Relationship, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Nudity, Other, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, POV Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Parent-Child Relationship, Partly in canon, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Child Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Past Lives, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Torture, Pet Names, Phone Calls, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – PTSD, Pregnancy, Prompt Fic, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Laufey (Marvel), Protective Siblings, Protective Tony Stark, Psychological Drama, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Quality Time, Reconciliation, Redemption, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Regret, Reincarnation, Reminiscing, Secret Identity, Separation Anxiety, The Nine Realms, Time Skips, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Is Not Helping, Tony Stark’s Brand of Language, Travel, Twin Bond, Twins, Unexpected Visitors, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Violence, Violent Thoughts, broken loki, character introspection, family baggage, hidden identity, large family, mild romance, more tags added as we go, references to sexual content, the author did way too much research for this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:46:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 43,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21603868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virodeil/pseuds/Virodeil
Summary: Tony chooses to think differently, see the little details, in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. The arc reactor in his chest is failing for the second time, at that. These, coupled together, sees him pelting down quite a different road than what anyone expects, including himself. An alien family, a pre-made romance, some inherited species change… oh, my!(A story in interlocked drabble format, postAvengersand beyond, with some mild crossovers thrown in.)
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Bruce Banner/Betty Ross, Butterfingers & Dummy & Jarvis & Tony Stark & You (Iron Man movies), Byleistr & Tony Stark, Farbauti/Laufey (Marvel), Helblindi & Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes & Tony Stark, Laufey & Tony Stark, Loki & Tony Stark, Nick Fury & Tony Stark, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Happy Hogan, Tony Stark & Original Character(s), Tony Stark & Thor, Various Relationships
Comments: 52
Kudos: 95
Collections: The Land of Ice and Snow





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author and story notes:  
> Happy belated Thanksgiving, for those who celebrate it! I don’t celebrate it, myself, but here’s a gift for you who do, folks: an exploration and development of self, family and friends, gratitude for small, simple and comfy things, and Tony’s unique perspective as the spice of it all. Just a warning, though: Given the space constraint (only 50 words max per section) and rule (following a preset chain of words from the prompts I created, which you can suggest more to or take under your own interpretation), this fic is more of an outline of glimpses that hop about everywhere. But you can request for expansion to one of the dribbles, or a series of them if a scene is covered by not just one dribble. (The story will then be posted in a separate title under a series involving this main one.)  
> To be safe, proceed more carefully or skip a particular snippet if you see an asterisk tagged to it. It means there’s a possibly (very) sensitive topic inside, ranging from language not suitable for polite company to traumatic past. It’s rare (18 out of 410, thus far), but still there. Please pay attention on the story tags, too. They may forewarn you about things. And, well, I’ve never written romance before, or anything lemon-like, so I guess the lameness is a warning, as well.  
> Complaints, comments, thoughts, ideas are welcome. I always love people’s thoughts and discussions on things. ☺
> 
> Dialogue markers: _(Note: Screen-reader users, please turn on the “attribute speaking” feature for the best experience reading this story.)_  
>  • “Usual dialogues, in English.”  
> • ` _Thoughts or mental dialogues, usually Tony’s, otherwise noted._ `  
> • “ **Written notes, chats, signs, etc.** ”  
> • “Spoken dialogue in languages other than English.”
> 
> Language markers (Ýmska – language of the jötnar in Rey-verse):  
> • abý: dad _(closest equivalent)_  
>  • amma: mum  
> • Aslakonnar: Your Highness _(singular)_  
>  • býma: second-mum _(like “abý”, but closer)_  
>  • Ðolukonnar: Your Majesty  
> • milaða: jötun _(singular, modifier)_  
>  • milaðen: jötnar _(plural)_  
>  • Ýmirheim: Jötunheim _(in the language of the jötnar)_  
>  • Ýmska: the language of the jötnar
> 
> Rating markers: _(Rating is otherwise mostly of General nature)_  
>  * – containing heavy Teens or Mature content(s), noted on the respective chapter's note section  
> ** – containing Explicit content(s)
> 
> Started on: 12th November 2019 at 02:03 PM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and a taste of freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:**  
>  Piece 11: _Heavy Teens:_ References to Sexual Content

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 10th June 2012**

  1. 1\. Civil  
Looking at the ruins of his penthouse, Tony wonders why he invited _those strangers_ to come to stay with him here in his tower. But then, old-man Jarvis always lectured him about courtesy and civility. So perhaps that’s why.



  1. 2\. Strange  
There is an emerging pattern in all the snapshots of people’s encounters with Loki that Tony has gathered, both from his own security cameras and those that SHIELD keeps in their database. It doesn’t sit well with him. But whom can he tell about this strangeness?



  1. 3\. Bleak  
The medical photos that JARVIS took on Tony’s chest area show him a bleak, short future. Apparently, the arc reactor embedded in his chest hasn’t been able to cope well with all the strenuous activities that happened this few days.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 13th June 2012**

  1. 4\. Teal  
With all the stresses piling up, from reconstruction of the tower, to demands to debrief from Fury, to his own impending death, Tony seeks shelter with his bots in the tropics. Here in Indonesia, from his sea-side little lab, he can watch the calm blue-green water to his heart’s content.



  1. 5\. Yonder  
A komodo dragon is lazily sunning itself just beyond the fence of the little getaway home. Tony observes it with envy. He used to do that; just… in another life, it feels. But now there are so many things to do, to prepare for… things.



  1. 5\. Guise  
Mingling with the natives is _fun_. Tony is just another ridiculous American tourist in a village of short, black-skinned, cheerful people. With his goatee gone and him garbed only in baggy shorts, baggier T-shirts and flip-flops, nobody will be able to recognise him as Tony Stark, the Iron Man.



  1. 6\. Quilt  
Staying in a tropical climate would make everyone shun thick blankets. But Tony can’t ditch the quilt that Anna made for him that long time ago, when his world was practically just old-man Jarvis and that lovely wife of his. She was his _mum_ in all but blood.



  1. 7\. Scale  
In the scale from “horrible” to “horrendous,” this second impending death by arc reactor…. Well, it’s actually _out of the scale_ , and not in a bad way at that, Tony muses. There are less loose ties to deal with, and SHIELD or other government agents are yet to find him.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 15th June 2012**

  1. 8\. Clutter  
“Oh, _shit_ ,” Tony grumbles, as he trips _yet again_ on the toolboxes that either of his three bots have left open on the floor. Fortunately, _this time_ he isn’t holding anything. “Oi! I didn’t program clutteriness into the three of you, did I? Come on – clean this up!”



  1. 9\. Pump  
` _One last good thing before I die._ ` That’s the idea. And now, Tony is delivering his custom-made water-finder kits to a few nearby villages, consisting of a groundwater measurer, a water driller and a pump set. The drought is still there, but at least it’s _something_ … right?



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 16th June 2012**

*11. Nice  
Tony’s home-away-from-home is… swamped; by villagers with profuse thank-yous in rough and stumbling English, and gifts ranging from food items to _virginity_. And all because of _just_ a handful of kits that cost so little, that he could rather easily make. To be appreciated so is… nice; bizarre, though.

  1. 12\. Cup  
Playing with a few village children with the available utensils in his kitchen, Tony accidentally gets an idea when one of the rambunctious little things pretends to scoop “the blue light” out of his chest using a cup. ` _This kid might just save my life!_ `



**Malibu, California, United States, 19th June 2012**

  1. 13\. Tired  
The need for advanced technical and medical tools regretfully sent Tony back to his home country. Now he is recuperating in his Malibu home, exhausted after a thirty-six-hour bender tweaking the arc reactor in his chest. And it works!



**Malibu, California, United States, 21st June 2012**

  1. 14\. Wave  
Back on his figurative feet, Tony surfs about along his private beach with abandon. This reminds him of the waves just outside his little lab half-way on the other side of the globe, however, and the little child that unknowingly saved his life.



**Malibu, California, United States, 23rd June 2012**

  1. 15\. Prolific  
Numerous water-finder kits after he began the industrious production, which had been sparked by the déjà-vu surfing, Tony has to concede that he misses his sea-side home in Flores, Indonesia. But, well, maybe it’s indeed the right time to return there for a while. SHIELD is sniffing round again.



  1. 16\. Plate  
JARVIS has been fielding lots of calls from an exceedingly worried and increasingly frantic Pepper, apparently. Tony feels that he can’t face the world yet, though. So he sends her a custom-made plate he bought online, whose face displays embossed shapes of little strawberries forming the word “ **PEPPER**.”



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 24th June 2012**

  1. 17\. Burn  
The land is _still_ starving for water, Tony finds, as he visits his Flores home again. The soil is dry and cracked. The yellow grass crackles and breaks beneath his shoes. The waterways are empty. He delivers the water-finder kits he made to the villages, but they don’t seem enough.



  1. 18\. Tasteless  
The porridge, made from mashed corn and nothing else, is tasteless and dry. In other places, in other times, Tony might reject it, shun it, even mock it. But the villagers _insist_ to give it to him, in repayment for the water-finder kits, from so little that they have.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 27th June 2012**

  1. 19\. Kitchen  
Tony has learnt much, from tailing his mother in her Maria Stark Foundation events but actually speaking with people other than her. With that knowledge, he coordinates with the foundation and opens a soup kitchen that the villagers can partake of, as well as selling food ingredients inexpensively to them.



  1. 20\. Itch  
JARVIS relays a video call through various bouncer servers. It’s Fury, and he is… furious. He rants about Tony’s lack of responsibility, lack of cooperation, lack of _care_. And Tony’s fists itch horribly. He wants to punch that bastard black and blue. He must keep “in character,” though.



  1. 21\. Drink  
A group of Swedish tourists invite Tony “the American gone native” to drink with them, with the supplies that they brought from Jakarta, their previous stop. Tony has to pause, on that. ` _When did I last drink anything other than water, coffee, milk, pea soup or smoothies?_ ` He can’t remember.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 30th June 2012**

  1. 22\. Scoundral  
Pepper is the one ranting, next. Tony can’t send up designs for new products from far away. Tony can’t just disappear, without telling anybody where he’s off to. Tony can’t ditch his responsibilities to Stark International. Tony can’t behave like a scoundral forever. And through all that, Tony is silent.



**Puncak Jaya, Papua, Indonesia, 2nd July 2012**

  1. 23\. Cap  
Indonesian government agents have begun to sniff Tony’s presence. SHIELD will be just a step behind, he bets… or maybe they’re the one who squawked. So he moves to a more isolated place near the edge of the country, delighting in the snow that barely caps the highest mountain there.



  1. 24\. Brindle  
Tony has a new bot, shaped like a little child. He names her Brindle, for her colourful coating. He wants a living reminder of his time here. A child living in a village of browns and yellows and creams and blues and precious green saved him, and he doesn’t forget.



**Cartenz Piramid, Puncak Jaya, Papua, Indonesia, 3rd July 2012**

25\. Sublime  
Tony is gathered with his four bots and JARVIS – in his newest Iron Man suit – atop the highest peak in Indonesia, seated on the light dusting of snow and watching the sun rise. The silence, broken just occasionally by the chattering of his bots, feels sublime.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the resistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:**  
>  Piece 42: _Teens:_ Nudity, Alien Biology

**New York, United States, 4th July 2012**

  1. 26\. Satire  
Tony is _not_ going to be driven out of his sanctuary like a stray or a criminal. He returns to his birthland on his own term, in his latest Iron Man suit, and immediately goes posturing to the masses in New York. He loads satirical limericks into SHIELD’s servers, too.



  1. 27\. Stringent  
SHIELD agents in civilian clothes patrol round the tower and the Malibu home. Some even try to be hired into the household teams responsible for those places. Agents Pretender and Legolas take up on Tony’s offer of staying in the tower, to boot. A stringent measure, for a minor annoyance.



  1. 28\. Cupcake  
Tony, garbed in clothes pretty similar to what he wore round his Flores home, although goateeful again, roams the streets of New York at night. On his way back, he drops into a hole-in-the-wall shop selling coffee and little cakes and, there, finds a whole new appreciation of jam-filled cupcakes.



**New York, United States, 5th July 2012**

  1. 29\. Oyster  
Being _under_ water is still traumatising, even now, years after Afghanistan. But Tony still loves undunking wattery things. Right this afternoon, in fact, he is treating the lovely, irritated, exasperated, worrywart Miss Pepper Potts at a little restaurant that specialises on special-sauced oysters eaten right on their shells. Yummy oysters!



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 7th July 2012**

  1. 30\. Climbing  
Tony hires a trainer to teach him climbing in various terrains. He doesn’t care that the trainer is apparently SHIELD-affiliated, from JARVIS’ secret background research. He just wants to _move_ , and relish in being able to move, and _not_ think about the unseen eyes watching him, as long as possible.



**Malibu, California, United States, 12th July 2012**

  1. 31\. Crux  
“You’ve… changed, Tony,” Pepper comments carefully one evening, as she’s delivering models from the R&D and attending a private dinner for two in the Malibu home. To that, Tony shrugs and says matter-of-factly, “Nearly died. Survived. Repeat. Three time’s the charm. And apparently now I’m a zoo animal for SHIELD.”



  1. 32\. Doddering  
Odin Borson, King of Asgard, looks old but stern and powerful on the paintings that Tony idly, compulsively browses online. He’s not… _old_ , though, Tony notes; doddering like an old man. But then again, he’s supposed to be the god of _war_ to the old Nordic civilisation, isn’t he?



**Washington DC, United States, 13th July 2012**

  1. 33\. Stair  
The President wants to cajole Tony in person to make anti-alien weaponry. Rhodey gave him a heads-up, after being silent for _years_. And now here he is, in the White House, having just fended off the press, now taking the _stairs_ to avoid weapon-related chit-chats from _all too many_ people.



  1. 34\. Pub  
It’s been quite a while since Tony last haunted a pub. But after the President _and the latter’s entourage_ held him in meetings for _hours_ about _making weapons_ , he just wants to drown himself in a sea of strangers, and maybe also in the alcohol he hasn’t touched for months.



  1. 35\. Careworn  
Tony makes an interesting acquaintance in one of the pubs. Nalla. And seriously, Tony really can’t determine their gender. They’re gorgeous, though, especially since they don’t need to display awesome things to be so. They look youthful and speak lightly. But their eyes, they’re careworn, and Tony is _drawn in_.



  1. 36\. Magical  
Tony talks, and talks, and talks. With some practised obfuscation on a few parts, and without revealing his identity but for his nickname, he rants about _everything_ to his new buddy Nalla. And Nalla _listens_ , and talks back, and tries to make things light without insulting him. It’s simply… _magical_.



**Washington DC, United States, 14th July 2012**

  1. 37\. Weather Forecast  
“It is going to rain heavily,” Nalla warns, when morning comes and Tony _at last_ thinks about leaving. He grins to that. “You a weather forecaster, now?” he teases. “Are you maybe a rain whisperer too? Any chance you can get it to stop drenching me once I’m outta here?”



  1. 38\. Snack  
Somehow, Nalla managed the nearly impossible, and now Tony is seated in a nearby breakfast diner _with them_ , enjoying what the menu book terms a “morning power snack.” Before this, the _only_ date for the night that Tony spent the morning after with was _Pepper_.



  1. 39\. Beach  
“You seem to like water so much,” Tony remarks, as he eyes the various soup bowls on the table, nearly all ordered by Nalla, who is now looking peacefully at the rain out of the window. “Wanna visit my home? It’s by the sea. Has a beach of its own.”



  1. 40\. Kick  
Nalla _agrees_ to go to Malibu! Tony’s really getting a kick out of this unexpected, unexpectedly prolonged date, and _not_ in the literal sense at that. Just when he needs it, too. Now he’ll make sure they’ll get a kick out of this visit, as well. He _promises_.



**Malibu, California, United States, 14th July 2012**

  1. 41\. Tray  
Nalla’s surprisingly with Tony and his bots in the lab, instead of lazing about in the beach. But, apparently, they’re there for the doodling materials, because then Tony finds _all_ of his metal trays drawn on with intricate shapes in some white paint. “Really? Now, you’re a vandalist artist, too?”



*42. Clatter  
The afternoon is overcast, and Tony finds a naked Nalla napping in the wet sand, with their legs in the water. Unfortunately, then the peaceful scene is broken, when the bucket of lunch things falls clattering from Tony’s hand, as he notices that Nalla has neither male nor female packages.

  1. 43\. Indignant  
“You startled me!” Nalla is remorseful, but _also_ indignant, and Tony glares at them as they splint the broken forearm he got from defending himself against their startled-out-of-sleep attack. Well, he has a good comeback for that: “You never told me you’re an alien!”



  1. 44\. Kiss  
Nalla, for once, looks like the so-called deer in the headlights, vulnerable and helpless, on Tony’s retort, and Tony _hates_ it. Kisses can make things better, he thinks, so, without further ado, he hooks his good arm round their neck, brings them close, and kisses them right on the lips.



  1. 45\. Jam  
Nalla’s _gone_. Completely disappears. Just so. Right after Tony let them go. What’s left is only the tingling memory of Nalla’s lips on his own, what feels like a mental half-friendly shove at his mind, and what looks like a little glass jar of palish-blue jam on the kitchen counter.



46\. Colouring  
The apples remind Tony of Nalla’s eyes: light green, with a hint of yellow. The colour was most apparent in that last moment, when those eyes were open wide _in fright_ as Tony kissed their owner. With that memory in mind, he hastily shovels away from the supermarket’s apple box.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and an exercise in desperate pining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:** None

**Malibu, California, 2nd August 2012**

  1. 47\. Hand  
The first thing that Tony does once his arm heals is to construct replacement hands for Brindle the bot. Working with just one functioning hand and with her own hands so limited in movement and finesse has been quite a pain, and Tony doesn’t want to experience that _ever_ again.



  1. 48\. Soap  
It’s been quite a while since Tony last dealt with pure chemistry, let alone biology. But now he does, with _both_ combined, in trying to forget about Nalla. He busies himself making a soft-scented soap-shampoo combo for human skin that doesn’t need much water to be used or rinced off.



**Los Angeles, California, 15th August 2012**

  1. 49\. Witty  
The CEO of the soap company Tony bought to manufacture and market his soap-shampoo combo is a witty, friendly, charming woman who seems to sincerely support his original aim to give this product for free to his friends back in Flores. She makes him miss Nalla more, though.



**Los Angeles, California, 17th August 2012**

  1. 50\. Emotionless  
The looks of the board of Stark Industries directors range from angry, to disgusted, to emotionless. They are unanimous in censuring Tony for buying and operating a soap company half for charity, however. So Tony detaches the company from SI, making it fully independent, and gets Pepper to be co-owner.



**United States, August-September 2012**

  1. 51\. Crawl  
The days crawl by. Tony helps the “Avengers” in various missions, helps Pepper direct the soap company, helps various charity organisations with supplies, and helps _consult_ the military for _defences_. But he can’t help _himself_ get over a pair of overwhelmed apple-green eyes, and that makes the days crawl _slower_.



  1. 52\. Nightmare  
For the umpteenth time since Nalla dropped into his life and was gone again within less than twenty-four hours, Tony is woken up by JARVIS from yet another nightmare. Weirdly enough, it’s not just – strangely familiar – alien people and things that feature in this one, but also _Loki_.



**Áyshkashla, Northern Alaska, United States, 1st October 2012**

  1. 53\. Wish  
Being a billionaire has its perks. Tony needn’t work hard to get his wishes – or even _whims_. But, even though he’s tracked down the jam’s producer to an old, exclusive, self-sufficient farming town in Northern Alaska, and its inhabitants share Nalla’s general built, Nalla proves _not_ to be there.



  1. 54\. Weedy  
A weedy not-so-little child from Queens is Tony’s next project, to alternatively get over or get a hold of Nalla. Peter Parker: an earnest, brilliant, cheeky, bubbly boy, who is in the accelerated study programme in his school, which has just arranged a field trip to Stark Industries. _Perfect_.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 15th October 2012**

  1. 55\. Talkative  
Peter Parker is talkative _to the highest degree_. By the end of the first day, Tony is half regreting having the preteen shadow him. He doesn’t want to hurt the midget’s spirits with an order to shut up, though. Worse yet, he has nobody else to sic the child on.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 16th October 2012**

  1. 56\. Clever  
Pepper’s an _ear-saver_. She suggested that Tony sic Peter on NaturAls – the soap company – for further “practical lessons.” And Peter, the clever boy that he is, has managed to solve _three_ problems with simple solutions that the grown-ups failed to think of. In a _day_. Tony’s arranging further “lessons” now….



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 18th October 2012**

  1. 57\. Tiered  
Tony knows how dirty the tiered and stacked corporate ladders can be, rather well, from snooping round SI places as a forgetable, ignorable child. He never thought it’d still be the case _presently_ , though; not till Peter told him about ordinary people having to _pay_ some employees to see him.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 19th October 2012**

  1. 58\. Laughing Stock  
Tony expands Maria Stark Foundation and sharpens its visions, missions, goals – _everything_. He’s a laughing stock for many, for that. He’s seen as weak, false, short-sighted, money squanderer…. But his companies have made _much_ money, all those idealistic foundation employees are happy, the recipients are even happier, so why not?



**Malibu, California, United States, 22nd November 2012**

59\. Clump  
For Thanksgiving, Brindle brings a clump of wet sand to the table, Dum-E contributes with _those_ doodled metal trays, Butterfingers orders Tony a crate of green apples, and You gets him takeaway from _that_ breakfast diner. The recipient can’t help but whine in protest and pain. He _misses_ Nalla.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the… probable… rise and fall… of a… friendship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 65: _Teens_ Nudity  
> Piece 84: _Mature:_ Torture

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 26th November 2012**

  1. 60\. Trust  
To trust the judgement of a _preteen_ to putter about _safely_ in a chemistry lab almost without supervision is a very stupid decision, many would say. But Tony has thrived on what many would label “very stupid decisions” before; and Peter has been sneaking into his school’s advanced labs, anyway.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, December 2012**

  1. 61\. Symbolism  
Bruce – the nuclear physicist, the green rage monster, Tony’s first science bro – is _back_ , after vanishing who knows where and for so long. And his first comment on noticing Peter puttering in the lab is, “I’m sure there’s some kind of symbolism behind this. But, really, chem genius, you say?”



  1. 62\. Falling  
With Bruce around, a routine is soon established, with Tony handling the tech, Bruce the biochems and Peter helping both. Day after day, Tony feels he’s falling ever deeper into the symbiosis, _farther from Nalla_ , but right now he doesn’t care – _can’t_ care, for the sake of his sanity.



  1. 63\. Bright Red  
Peter painted You _bright red_. On a _whim_. _Without_ permission. If Tony didn’t like that boy so much, the latter would’ve found himself booted out permanently from any Tony-related gig. But, admitedly, what disturbs Tony isn’t really the colour, but the reflection of eyes in that colour in his dreams.



**Áyshkashla, Northern Alaska, United States, January-February 2013**

  1. 64\. Cliff  
The “red incident” has made Tony restless _again_. So he skedaddles to Northern Alaska once more, hoping that Nalla is there. And, when people still say they haven’t seen Nalla, he chooses to stay, this time. He buys a small property just outside the farming town, surrounded by climbable cliffs.



*65. Waterfall  
There’s a waterfall not so far away from Tony’s new Alaskan home. And in a small cave behind it, he finds _Nalla_ , lounging naked on a damp cot and fiddling with… “That a Starkpad you’re playing with?” ` _Damn. Why say **that** , you dummy?_`

  1. 66\. Brisk  
It’s amusing, to watch the prat Nalla, who has just bonked Tony’s temple with the Starkpad for the second surprise in their acquaintanceship, flail about trying to grab their things, even as Tony drags them towards the waterfall by one ankle. “There’s a perfectly good, brisk morning outside. Why hide?”



  1. 67\. Trunk  
Tony tries _everything_ to coax Nalla to pose for a picture with the backdrop of the waterfall. But, still grumpy, they stubbornly and silently lean against the trunk of a nearby pine tree instead. “Pleaseeeee,” he begs, at last. “If you pose there, I’ll join you playing in the water.”



  1. 68\. Trickle  
Tony can _acutely_ feel cold sweat trickling down the back of his neck as, fulfilling his bargain, he dips his feet in the shallow edge of the waterfall pool. He doesn’t fear the water, but he fears the prospect of being _dunked in it_ , as retaliation for the earlier scare.



  1. 69\. Footwear  
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Tony prompts when, after the splashing about in the pool, Nalla ambles away garbed only in a pair of wet boxers _and nothing else_ , not even any footwear to protect their fair feet from the sharp stones. And Tony is stuck carrying their other things….



  1. 70\. Goblet  
Tony’s a decent blacksmith; he has to be, in his line of work. But he’s never smithed anything more delicate than that, and now Nalla’s… treating?… him to watch a local glassworker blowing fine glasswear. He even gets to try his hand on it, shaping a simple goblet.



  1. 71\. Turn  
Nalla gave Tony a gift, so now’s his turn to give them something. And since he doesn’t know when – or _if_ – he can meet Nalla again after this, if the latter doesn’t agree to go back with him, he gives them his newly blown, misshapened goblet… _and they **hug** him_.



  1. 72\. Waylay  
Nalla keeps trying to excuse themself, and Tony keeps waylaying them. “You seem to be quite familiar with everyone and everything here. Give me a tour? I want the scenic _and_ detailed tour! _Please_?” is his latest excuse. And, though long-sufferingly, with a glare to boot, they _comply_.



  1. 73\. Most  
Tony is so _very_ curious. Most of everyone that he encounters during the tour are _deferential_ towards Nalla, barring himself and fellow outsiders. But Nalla themself is clothed similarly to the townsfolk, and behaves likewise… if, maybe, more like a leader than the rest. So, what’s awesomely _special_ about them?



  1. 74\. Unattainable  
Tony glances at Nalla for the umpteenth time… and catches their own glance, which makes them flush with mortification. Well, apparently, while he’s been observing them, they’ve been doing the same to him…. But they regarded him like something _unattainable_ , and that’s _absurd_. Hasn’t he been throwing himself on them?



  1. 75\. Slip  
“I need to be in other places, and you have been delaying me quite vociferously,” Nalla huffs, irritated and… worried? Tony frowns. Anti boring routines as he is, he can recognise a routine a mile off. So there are possibly _more_ places like this little old town of aliens? Hmm.



  1. 76\. Fare  
The fare of winter-themed things available in Áyshkashla – the little Northern Alaskan farming town – is certainly different from the usual, but Tony’s gotten accustomed to it. He wonders if he can get more if he tails after Nalla to wherever they’re to go next and set up a trading deal.



  1. 77\. Broken  
Tony confronted Nalla, in private. He expected many outcomes, but not… this. Nalla looks so old, so pained, so _broken_. Is the routine _that_ secret, to be a life-or-death situation? Absurdly, this look _somehow_ feels like a déjà vu, too; of _Loki’s_ fleeting expression in various situations, of all things.



  1. 78\. Feisty  
Pepper’s gone into yet another long lecture, now _in person_ instead of via text messages or video calls. Maybe it’s Tony’s fault for making such a feisty woman his CEO, all those years ago, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He still doesn’t appreciate the lecture, though.



  1. 79\. Vigorous  
To protect himself and his freedom to tail Nalla wherever they’re going next, Tony strikes up a peace agreement with Pepper about his rights and responsibilities regarding Stark International. The agreement document’s forging has been a week of vigorous, exhausting, painful, somewhat hurtful contention, but at least it’s done, now.



  1. 80\. leniency  
“If you dug deeper, I would be forced to end your current incarnation or wipe every trace of myself from your mind,” Nalla says, at last, after Tony demands for the umpteenth time to accompany them. He scowls. He never thought that “living” or “memory” could be proof of _leniency_.



  1. 81\. Underneath  
Tony spends more time with Nalla in Áyshkashla, digging deeper into Nalla’s personality instead of whatever places or identity they wish to hide so much from him. He breaks through, at last, when he sends for Peter and has the bubbly, honest, innocent boy figuratively wiggle underneath Nalla’s well-constructed façade.



  1. 82\. Error  
“Are you going to put your child in the agreement?” Nalla abruptly asks as they and Tony are forging a hopefully airtight arrangement; Tony’s solution for him to accompany Nalla without endangering himself or them. To that, gobsmacked, Tony blurts out… after a pause… “there’s an error in that equation.”



  1. 83\. Trigger  
Tony’s too restless to bed down for the night, although Nalla has – _for the first time_ – invited him to “share a nest” with them. Unpleasant reminders of Howard Stark are already hounding him, triggered by Nalla’s assumption that Peter’s his _child_. He really doesn’t want those memories as nightmares _again_.



**84. Water  
Fear’s all that Tony feels as he watches Nalla and Peter try to dunk each other in the waterfall pool, like he never witnessed anybody do there before. Memories of his head being dunked _and held down_ in a pail of dirty, lukewarm water overlay the supposedly bright, cosy scene.

  1. 85\. Baby  
Nalla thought that a peaceful scene would calm Tony down from his panic attack. So here the three of them are, visiting a new mum and their baby in their little homely home. But it only makes Tony more jittery. ` _Do they want babies **from me**? I’m not a dad!_`



  1. 86\. Trick  
Tony watches Peter perform a card-trick game to the new mum’s younger “womb-siblings.” His heavy, confused heart twinges. He himself taught it to the boy, and now Peter’s so _proud_ to present it to others. It doesn’t help that Nalla then whispers to him, “You have raised your child well.”



  1. 87\. Close  
It’s a fact that Tony’s been a womaniser for most of his life. Ever since he impulsively kissed Nalla, though, he hasn’t been close with anybody. And now Nalla’s sharing their cushion pit with him for the night, fulfilling his secret dream, and _he doesn’t know what to do_.



  1. 88\. Payment  
Snuggling up with Nalla, _just snuggling up_ , turns out to be quite satisfying _on its own_. Tony rarely got such quality sleep, filled with dreams of more snuggles. So, in the morning, he asks them, “What do you want for payment? Got my best sleep yet to date last night.”



89\. Thesis  
Being booted out of the “nest” for offering to _repay his good sleep_ puts Tony in a bad mood as he – _temporarily_ – farewells Nalla. Then, on the plane trip to NYC, JARVIS sends someone’s master’s thesis on “using dolphins as defence” for him to review as a “tiebreaker”…. ` _How **not** -awesome!_`


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the uncharted land of half-hearted separation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:** None

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, March 2013**

  1. 90\. Tariff  
“I _should_ put a tariff on academicians asking me for advice,” Tony grumbles as he flounces into the tower’s electronic gaming hall. Bruce, who is busy playing a role-play game on a Play Station III, glances at him with an amused smile that just makes him grumpier.



  1. 91\. Clarity  
Tony’s latest dream leaves a strong impression with astounding clarity, for once. Unfortunately, it’s about what he somehow knows as _Nalla_ in another name and body and voice, trapping bellies slightly rounded with _babies_ between the two of them, as they snuggle down in a nest of furs and pillows.



  1. 92\. Delirious  
“ **I dreamt about us with the little ones still unborn we were so happy despite the war you started you lout I miss it I miss it so much Afa come home please I shall do my best to protect you.** ” Nalla sounds… delirious, even through a text message.



  1. 93\. Slave  
Tony doesn’t want to be a slave of the mysterious dreams that have been hounding him since he met Nalla, which Nalla seems to share with him, unknowing to the both of them. But, somehow, he doesn’t want to lose those glimpses, too, or bar himself from them.



  1. 94\. East  
“ **Where does the sun rise in your place? Do you even have a sun or just a moon? Ours rises from the east. It can be so hot during the day.** ” Tony rambles in the reply to Nalla’s unexpected text message, in hope of diverting both of their attention.



  1. 95\. Blood  
“Is there an internal problem going on in SI, Mister Stark?” “Are you doing a mission with your team, Iron Man?” “Do you have something about your health that you want to tell our readers, Mister Stark?” – These reporters, they’re like vultures seeing a carcass, or sharks scenting fresh blood.



  1. 96\. Care  
“You look haggard,” Nalla remarks, in one of their _ir_ regular video calls. Raising an eyebrow, Tony retorts, “You, too.” And Nalla does look like they suffer from lack of _self_ care, judging from the exhaustion plain in their eyes despite their otherwise tidy appearance. _And they don’t deny it_.



  1. 97\. Tip  
Peter, apparently bored, doodles on a thin leftover aliminium sheet scavanged from Tony’s bin with a laser cutter pen. Tony, taking a break from SI’s R&D product reviews, watches the pen’s tip waving about on the gleaming surface as if under hypnosis. He feels so, so tired and blank, empty….



  1. 98\. Instrument  
“Thor said Loki used to go everywhere using what he called ‘hidden paths’, Mister Stark. I would like to partner with you for the creation of an instrument that could detect and navigate these paths,” Jane Foster the astrophysicist says. Tony perks up. He can possibly _go_ to Nalla!



  1. 99\. Watch  
Tony _still_ fails to come up with a working prototype for what Foster wanted. He did came up with lots of improvements for his brand of smart watch, though. And profit from custom-made Starkwatches for health, safety, communication, navigation and defence in turn fuels this project. Not a total loss.



  1. 100\. Extract  
A group of mercenaries try to ambush Tony a few blocks from the tower, on his way back from his near-nightly jaunts to the cupcake-selling shop. Miraculously, a night-owl _doctor_ – from the Doctors Without Borders NGO that Tony invited to roost in his tower among other NGOs – helps extract him.



  1. 101\. Blame  
Tony is exasperated with his head of security, most of all. “Hogan, can you be in two places at once? If yes then I’ll blame you for things. No, right? So go be with your sister. I know you don’t get enough vacation, and you’re Grumpy Hogan when you don’t.”



  1. 102\. Hat  
“Mister Stark… you sure it’ll hide you?” Peter’s anxious, perhaps rightly so, but Tony can’t stand being cooped up _anywhere_. He heard about an exentric detective wearing this deerstalker hat in London, and, at worst, he’ll be mistaken as that man, wearing it during his nightly jaunts as disguise.



  1. 103\. Fish  
Bruce and Peter have installed a _huge_ saltwater aquarium along the hall that separates the bank of lifts from the common floor at large. And, returning from a Pepper-enforced business trip tired and grumpy, Tony immediately parks himself on the floor in front of it, watching the fishes swim .



  1. 104\. Journal  
Idling beside a smaller aquarium, featuring a bubbling waterfall-like structure and small freshwater fishes, Tony rereads the thesis the board of examiners wanted him to tiebreak on. From the journal notes this Owen Grady appended, he seems plenty sharp with animals…. ` _Perhaps we could partner up? Want a unique zoo!_ `



  1. 105\. Toy  
There’s a package sent from Áyshkashla, from _Nalla_. – Various jams, put in uniquely shaped jars boxed for travel, tagged “ **For Afa, from Fié. Happy eating.** ” And _toys_ , too, in the other box, tagged, “ **For Peter, from Abý. Happy playing.** ” But it’s neither Christmas nor New Year…. And the _names_ –?!



  1. 106\. Framework  
Tony tries to forget the package for a little while by designing the basic framework of his dream zoo. He lets Peter play with the exotic beach and construction toys, though, and he’s not about to waste the jams either; but _after_ he tested them all thoroughly in the labs.



  1. 107\. Warm  
Pepper drops by, with _another_ package. It consists of little gifts hand-made by the children in the orphanage run by Maria Stark Foundation. And then, blushing, she pulls out _another_ , much tinier package from her inner blazer pocket; _her_ gift. _All_ , for Tony. He feels… warm; confused as hell, though.



  1. 108\. Hair  
It’s… _March_ 2013 already, apparently. _Months_ after Christmas, New Year and Valentine’s Day. Tony celebrates none, personally, but he got gifts – _meaningful_ gifts – recently, so he must repay them… right? Well, _anyway_ , he’ll order a custom blazer decoratedly sewn with _Tony-invented_ metal-alloy strands the colour of her hair for Pepper.



  1. 109\. Ragged  
Nalla video-calls. They look _ragged_ , this time, and totally silent, just staring intently at Tony with a storm of emotions brewing behind their eyes. And Tony finds it _so hard_ to meet those eyes. ` _I forgot to say thank you or send gifts to them, didn’t I?_ ` So… “Thank you?”



  1. 110\. Tinker  
Peter presents a pair of Starkwatches to Tony, which he apparently tinkered with, just after Nalla hung up the call _without ever saying a word_. “JARVIS helped me,” he babbles. “I’m not so good _yet_ with computer programs and the like. But I’m _learning_. These, they’re for you and… _them_.”



111\. Void  
Tony had always managed to ignore the empty space beside him in bed. Until _that call_. And now he’s acutely aware of the void left there, instead. He misses the “snuggle session” that night _so, so much_. He misses his snuggle buddy _even more_. If only he’d handled things differently….


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the introduction to a premade family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:** None

**New York, United States, 1st April 2013**

  1. 112\. Serendipity  
Tony never believed in serendipity. But today, he _happened_ to go larking with Happy when he found a travel agency that offered “memorable Arctic tour,” and then he happened to find _Nalla_ in a café nearby while Happy’s away, and then Nalla’s jeep happened to stall before they could skedaddle….



  1. 113\. Libel  
It mightily sucks that Nalla’s got to go so soon after their reunion. But at least, Tony thinks, they’ve cleared some things, now. Just, sadly, _Justin Hammer_ has chosen a very “good” time to scorn his “hypocrisy” on not making weapons anymore, _in press_. Time for a libel suit, _again_.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 2nd April 2013**

  1. 114\. Uprising  
Nalla’s back, but _only_ to drop a bunch of young strangers on Tony and tell him to protect them. Worse, most of the midgets call him “Amma,” refusing to just use his name. And worst… “There’s an _uprising_ in your country and _you’re going back to it_?! Are you _crazy_?!!”



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 3rd April 2013**

  1. 115\. Bake  
“What to do with 2 teens and 4 kids to distract _all of us_ from Nalla’s crazy stunt?” has been the prevalent question that haunts Tony since Nalla – that prat – vanished again, maybe _to join the uprising_. Thankfully, today Captain bloody America is there to teach the midgets… _baking cookies_?



**Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia, 4th April 2013**

  1. 116\. Toady  
Wanting to keep his tagalongs out of the public’s eye, Tony brings them to Bali, Indonesia. He chose a sea-side, water-themed exclusive resort for his comfort, the midgets’ water games, and the privacy. Well, but he wishes he knew how _toadying_ the service crew in this resort happen to be.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 5th April 2013**

  1. 117\. Scent  
The Flores home is so _familiar_. Tony wishes he went there right from the start. The midgets aren’t quite comfortable with the heat, barring Peter, but they do like the fellow midgets and the underwater view. Tony himself misses the scents. Then, that night, he’s treated to a _super-familiar_ scent….



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 6th April 2013**

  1. 118\. Home  
Waking up to the sight of Nalla tussling playfully, gently, relatively silently with the littlest midgets nearby on the cushion pit is…. Well, Tony doesn’t know how to describe what he feels, in detail. But he _does_ feel like this may be what home feels to other, more fortunate people.



  1. 119\. Little  
Nalla’s always felt so composed, mature, even nurturing. But tonight, as they’re suddenly curled up tightly in Tony’s arms and tremble and bury their face in the crook of Tony’s neck, after a day of false cheer, they feel so, so little and vulnerable. And then their face becomes wet….



  1. 120\. Twice  
Stumblingly, blubberingly, Nalla begins to tell Tony about Farbauti – otherwise Afa, or Úti – their late spouse, a difficult and prickly but loving person, a genius in many fields with bold and sometimes overelaborate plans, who carried four children and birthed two, who has been… born twice over? _In Tony_ …?



  1. 121\. Earnest  
“Thank you, but I’m just Tony, you know, nobody else. I’d… erm, well, can’t we just get to know each other, as ourselves? ‘Sides, I’m a man, from humankind, you know, so I _can’t_ get pregnant,” Tony babbles, awkwardly but earnestly, after all the waterworks. “Hey, don’t cry again, c’mon….”



**Mount Kelimutu, Flores, Indonesia, 7th April 2013**

  1. 122\. High  
Tony often finds calm while perching on high places and looking down. Apparently, Nalla… or Fié?… is similar. Because, the next morning, once both are settled on the lip of Mount Kelimutu’s three-coloured-lakes caldera for some figurative and literal cooling-down time, the tension and clinginess slowly leave the distraught humanoid.



  1. 123\. Tax  
Nalla – Fié – _talks_ , at last. Not only about remnants of opposition from the civil war that instigated the recent uprising, but also about their crumbling country, their crumbling family…. Tony frowns. “Well, either review your tax system, if you’ve got any, or find a new place to live,” he suggest.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 7th April 2013**

  1. 124\. Sock  
A very nervous, very tentative Peter has been waiting with his gift of a pair of Starkwatches on the porch. That reminds Tony that he, recently, has also purchased a custom-made pair of sock-shoes for… Fié. “well, you don’t seem to like wearing shoes much, so I got you these.”



  1. 125\. Laire  
After such a fraught night – no, a fraught _week_ , since Nalla/Fié dumped their children on Tony and Peter – Tony wants something thrilling to release the stress. So he drags that buddy of his to visit a mummy Komodo’s laire… and poke inside for eggs. The chase afterwards is thrilling indeed!



  1. 126\. Tear  
Tony watches silently as Fié curls up in the cushion pit that has recently replaced his bed, knackered and fast asleep. If they’re a piece of garment, then they’d seen much wear and tear, he muses; not that their real garments are that much better…. New mission, then: replace clothing.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 8th April 2013**

  1. 127\. Boot Camp  
Six pairs of bright, young eyes and grins spectate avidly as Fié undergoes a bootcamp on earth fashion courtesy of Tony. But then, in retaliation, they get him to learn _everything_ there is to do with their country, aided by the five spectators – sans Peter, who must suffer alongside him.



128\. Echo  
That night, just before Tony falls asleep, Fié whispers something in their language in his ear. It echoes in his mind, in what feels like the distant past. And then, in the dreamland, it transforms into the vivid sight _and feel_ of two blue-skinned bodies, entwined cosily round each other.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and a study in bumpy changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  General: Non-Consentual Body Modification  
> Piece 130: _Teens:_ Thoughts of Rape/Non-Con  
> Piece 137: _Mature:_ Mild Sexual Content  
> Piece 138: _Heavy Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Sexual Content  
> Piece 142: _Heavy Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Sexual Content

**Lembata, Flores, Indonesia, 9th April 2013**

  1. 129\. Candle  
Wishing to escape what he terms “the dream spell” and the _physical_ entanglement he finds out the next morning, Tony sneaks away – _alone_ – to a nearby island, to learn how to harvest wild-bees honeycombs and make beeswax candles out of them. It’s better, safer, less taxing than confronting Fié _again_.



*130. Poise  
The _lack_ of the usual poise is what Tony notices first when a repentent Fié manages to find him, mid-candle-pressing. Concessions are made. Promises are exchanged. “No more dream-spell. No more running.” But Tony can’t maintain his own poise in Fié’s company, now. The dream-spell felt so much like rape.

**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 10th April 2013**

  1. 131\. Book  
**The Children of Ýmir: A Compendium; By Voðen Bestla-childe** – It’s a _huge_ tome, purportedly containing the basic things one needs to know about Fié’s country – Ýmirheim – and their people – milaðen. Tony prefers reading it to being forced to acknowledge that he was once spouse of one _and **mother** of four_.



  1. 132\. Venom  
Fié speaks with lots of venom about their own sibling-child, whom they claim has robbed them of a vital anchor and one of their own “womb-children,” devastating both them and their country. Tony wonders about this for a while, but then remembers Obi, whom he once acknowledged as _father figure_.



**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, 12th April 2013**

  1. 133\. Cake  
Fié can’t stay much longer, but they permit the children to stay. Tony wonders what to do as a farewell activity and gift _for the children_. When he asks Bruce, the latter sends him the video of the baking fest cap had with those kids…. ` _Oh well. Cake, it is._ `



**United States, April-June 2013**

  1. 134\. Tribute  
Fié sends Tony things whenever and wherever: files of books on various topics, odd bits of alien stone and ice-crusted dirt and plants in environment-regulated storage, photographs of alien views printed on thin but sturdy sheets of alien metal… many, many things. Fié calls them bribes. Tony calls them tributes.



  1. 135\. Eager  
Helblindi, Býleistr, Peter, Álti, Lasla, Lafta… they’re all looking up at Tony with hopeful, eager expressions, no more wariness lingering as from the first days of their stay – barring Peter, who has been with him since… practically forever, he’s sure. And the treat today: “Ready to go to the zoo?”



  1. 136\. Wild  
Tony misses some safari. Hell, he misses his Antarctic bunker, from which he can go out to simply observe _and be_ with the wildlife. Bronx Zoo was nice, but… well. He wants something _wild_. And then, instead of sending him something, Fié drops onto his lap…. Now, something wild’s coming!



*137. Contour  
“Now, isn’t this better than the dream-spell?” Tony purrs, grinning anticipatorily as he swipes a slow hand down the contour of Fié’s naked side. An agreeing, impatient whimper is his answer, before he got flipped on his back and receives the same treatment. Afterwards, the world exists only for two.

*138. Flash  
Fié’s been back several times since the first one, for the fix that Tony himself wasn’t aware he needed. Always in and out, like a flash of light, but both cherish their time together more than ever. Not just for the sex, either, surprisingly for Tony, but for the _closeness_.

  1. 139\. Tired  
Tony feels tired, _always_ , after each of Fié’s visit until some time later. JARVIS is beginning to notice changes on him, after the third time. And after the sixth, Tony himself feels it. His senses are _sharper_. It doesn’t mean he’ll stop seeing Fié, though. He’s _addicted_ , by now.



  1. 140\. Vehicle  
By the tenth time, Tony’s starting to alter his vehicles. He no longer fits comfortably in his smallest – sadly fastest – cars, that’s why, and not because he’s growing fat. He’s leaner, in fact, but… taller, bigger, just himself but in a bigger proportion. And Bruce is interested in _studying_ it.



  1. 141\. Clip  
Helblindi got a hand of Howard’s dubious video clip, which raves about Tony being his greatest creation while _at the same time_ pushing the real deal away like some pesky pest. The teen’s rightly terrified, when Tony catches them red-handed. But, surprising himself, Tony’s not angry. He’s just… tired.



*142. Fond  
Tony’s really fond of Fié, he is. But he draws the line when his _genitalia_ begins to be affected. So, next they meet, he bluntly asks, “S’there something in your body that got people to change sexes, buddy?” But, damn, Tony’s in too deep already _anyway_. Clever bastard.

  1. 143\. Eerie  
Tony wakes up with a shout vibrating in his throat and ears. The dream is still vivid before him, although he’s opened his eyes wide. In it, Fié _and Loki_ , sporting _identical_ playful, eager looks that Tony’s seen several times _on Fié_ , are moulding him alive. Eerie, and _horrible_.



  1. 144\. Innocent  
Tony confronts Fié _again_ after the nightmare, and _this time_ they answer. “No! I did not know at the start that our closer relationship would change you physically.” There’s a wealth of unpleasant implications in there, so Tony distances himself _again_. Not from the children, though; they’re innocent in this.



145\. Money  
JARVIS’ a money-saver. Apparently, that smart, dilligent, paranoid AI’s been updating the retinal and voice passwords for Tony’s bigger bank accounts, _daily_. If not… well, thankfully not, _anyway_. Because, presently, the manager of one of those accounts whom he’s speaking with _barely_ recognises him. ` _Damn you, Fié. Damn me, too._ `


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and an attempt at psychological chiaroscuro through globe-trotting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 150: _Mature:_ Implied/Referenced Sexual Content  
> Piece 151: _Mature:_ Implied/Referenced Sexual Content  
> Piece 153: _General Plus:_ not safe to read while eating  
> Piece 154: _Mature:_ Foreplay  
> Piece 157: _Teens:_ Aftermath of Violence  
> Piece 172: _Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Violence

**Earth, July-November 2013**

  1. 146\. Free  
Tony goes adventuring alone, for once after quite a while. He drops into tech symposiums in disguise and brainstorms, goes on a safari in three continents and takes lots of doodle-notes for his ideal zoo, helps rigging electricity in various remote places…. But, oddly, he _doesn’t_ feel free. Something’s missing.



  1. 147\. Fountain  
Agent Pretender joins Tony, when he’s resting at the base of one of the famous fountains at Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg. “You know,” she says casually, “If you step on a certain tile, the fountain will spray you.” And, glaring, he grumbles, “I’ll make sure it sprays you, too.”



  1. 148\. Boat  
Caving in under the demands of his own heart, Tony sends for the midgets and brings them boating in Galilee Lake and the Dead Sea. He lets himself drown in the midgets’ chatter and excitement and the tideous motions of steering the boat. And, at last, he feels _free_.



  1. 149\. Glad  
The midgets are asleep, and Fié’s before him again. Tony glowers. But he can’t help notice how listless they look, how listless he himself feels. And then they _kneel_ and ask for his forgiveness. He should be glad, maybe; should be flattered with obeisance from such a proud individual. _Should_.



*150. Tent  
Tony sets up his little tent on the rented villa’s backyard,” then stuffs Fié into it before he follows suit. The tent _should_ be able to accommodate two people, but neither of them are small, albeit skinny. Still, it’s perfect for what he has in mind. Fié will _feel_ him.

*151. Fervour  
Well, surprisingly, it’s not only Fié who gets to feel Tony, but also otherwise. Even more shockingly, Tony _welcomes_ it. But then again, Fié’s _worshipping_ him, with admirable fervour. Who doesn’t want to be adored so? And then that sly bastard adds what seems like mind-to-mind contact into the mix….

  1. 152\. Erase  
The long period of separation between the… guardians? _Parent_ figures?… isn’t easily erased in the minds of the midgets, apparently. They keep clinging to Tony _and_ Fié, hatching all kinds of ways to reunite the two of them whenever both are apart, _even when one’s just going to the loo_.



*153. Ignoble  
Clint is deathly bored, it seems. He posted a thread in the “Avengers-only chatroom,” titled “ **The Most Ignoble Deaths We Should Avoid**.” And Tony’s contribution to it, while in the middle of latrine duty for the midgets who apparently ate something that disagrees with their stomachs, is: “ **Drowning in shit.** ”

*154. Cream  
Fié gives a long, slow swipe of their tongue to the top of their slice of cake, licking off all the cheese cream in one go. Their eyes, trained on Tony all the while, sparkle with sly humour and knowing eagerness. ` _That bastard,_ ` Tony thinks, but hell if he can’t match.

  1. 155\. Fickle  
Monsoon season in India is filled with fickle bouts of downpour, and the little not-quite-family experience it first-hand. They’re all meeting Bruce in New Delhi – because Bruce wants to see them, escape SHIELD for a while, and send necessities to his poor-district acquaintances – and they’re _drenched_ from head to toe.



  1. 156\. Harsh  
Bruce turns out to have been an unknowing bait. A STRIKE team is trying to ambush the little not-quite-family while they’re with him for whatever reason… with _try_ being the keyword. Because, faced with eminent danger to “little Tony” and “puny Bruce,” Hulk comes up with his own harsh measure.



*157. Chill  
Snow falls on the STRIKE team’s broken bodies. Chill both of the literal and figurative types permeates the suddenly dense air all round. holding the littlest midgets, with the other three clinging close, Fié stands glaring at the would-be ambushers. And to Tony, their expression is the coldest of all.

  1. 158\. Bag  
“Can I go with you?” a naked Bruce, hugging a large, worn duffle bag to his chest, pleads weakly. He looks shattered and lost, Tony notes, but also resigned, as if he knows he’ll get rejected. Fié’s cold and pragmatic, still. “What are your intentions towards the eight of us?”



  1. 159\. Toddler  
Bruce’ “intentions” are, apparently, a terrified toddler who was hiding in the duffle bag, who is now clinging to him with desperate tenacity. “She’s my girl, with Betty, my old girlfriend, year ‘go, and she – Betty – was afraid her father’s gonna take this one from either of us,” he rambles.



  1. 160\. Fund  
“I can…. Betty set up a trust fund for Anna, and emergency funds too, for both of us, three if she can join us, so you don’t have to…. Tony?” Bruce’ further rambling, once Tony _and_ Fié consented to his _and his daughter’s_ inclusion, peters off on Tony’s quelling glare.



  1. 161\. Egg  
“No eggs back home,” Lasla murmurs when, one morning in the Forest of Dean, England, Tony presents the not-quite-family hard-boiled eggs. “Too cold,” Lafta agrees. “Not if the eggs are kept inside a living body for incubation, however,” Fié mutters. And Tony loses interest on his own perfectly poached egg.



  1. 162\. Alcohol  
“Your fault,” Tony grumbles when, even after a second bottle of whiskey, he fails to be even buzzed. He really, really wants to forget about the eggs-nesting-in-braindead-carcass thing, but the alterations to his body that Fié has caused prevent him. “S’there no alcohol to buzz yourself on in your place?”



  1. 163\. Language  
Fié, returning from a long walk outside, grumbles in a foreign language and snatches the half-finished whisky right from Tony’s hand. “You are supposed to guard and care for the children in my absence, not get drunk,” they snap. “Have you forgotten what happened when we were meeting with Bruce?”



  1. 164\. Sense  
Tony flounces away from the argument, taking his turn to walk the parameter of the rented forest cabin. Not long after, though, the argument’s forgotten, replaced with total emersion into his new, sharpened senses. It feels like diving into and swimming round like a dolphin among a school of fish.



  1. 165\. Bivouac  
Tony heartily agrees to making a bivouac for the night further up the trail, since it’s still early autumn and there’s no dangerous carnivores in the Forest of Dean. In consideration of Anna the baby’s more fragile body, though, he buys her a bivouac sack for her to sleep in.



  1. 166\. Young  
“You’re shorter than I am,” Tony remarks when he beds down for the night and Fié immediately snuggles up to him. “I am younger than you are,” is the sleepy return. Tony wouldn’t ever guess that they’re comparably _fifteen years_ younger, though, in his ‘old life’. “Damn. I’m a cradle-robber.”



  1. 167\. Mother  
Possessing female reproductive system _and_ a slightly modified male one _and_ an asexual setting is far more comprehensible, far more acceptable to Tony than being a _mother_. But this fearsome topic comes up _again_ when the twins Lasla-Lafta _ask to be breastfed_. “You are not babies!” he chokes out, spluttering.



  1. 168\. Curious  
“No, we are not,” Lafta agrees to the spluttered denial. “But we spent so much time with Býma. Býma finished carrying and raising us after Amma died then. We wish to spend much time with Amma, too.” And, against all sense, Tony is morbidly curious about such a curious statement.



  1. 169\. Line  
Tony draws the line when, trying to flush Bruce _and Tony_ out, General Ross got his men to besiege Stark Tower, forcing all the employees to stay inside or risk harassment, citing “public endangerment” as the reason. In answer, Tony cite facts and appeals to public sympathy via PR team.



  1. 170\. Energy  
Bruce lacks the energy to fight back. Tony scoffs. “You’ve got Anna to fight for, and you don’t need to fight physically, at that,” he points out. “Go make a video of you playing with Anna, and I’ll complain about my employees being harassed. We’ll make the vids viral, then.”



  1. 171\. Ribbon  
The midgets are bored. And when the midgets are bored, they make mischief, as old-man Jarvis once – more-or-less – said about Tony. This time, as the adults are brainstorming and charting a safe way out of the media and political fracas Ross is causing, they’re busy plaiting ribbons into Fié’s hair.



*172. Dangerous  
Despite the ridiculous – though cute – tropical-bird-feather hair Fié’s sporting, they prove that their lethality is undiminished. The next STRIKE team sent their way, as the… well… _family_ is camping in upstate New York, is the bunch of display dummies that suffer from that. And Tony _loves_ dangerous sorts… Fié included.

  1. 173\. Script  
“Looks different from the alphabets for the language,” Tony comments as Fié’s carving… runes?… into stone pendants. The addressee grunts, but answers at length, “This is for… magic-work. More compact script, to account for less surface to carve on and more directions to guide the power.” And Tony perks up.



  1. 174\. Average  
“You aren’t an average milaða, aren’t you?” Tony murmurs when the family’s welcomed warmly back in Áyshkashla, now with open deference to Fié _and Tony_. Fié huffs to that, retorting, “You said _my_ runework was _average_ computing.” And, remembering the remark, Tony grins. He’s a “magic-work” programmer and producer now!



  1. 175\. Well-being  
Pepper and Happy have been safe during all the fracas, Tony knows. But safety _isn’t_ the whole measure of somebody’s well-being, and he _never_ just go half-way for his loved ones. He visits them, alone, to just chat and give them the pendants he made for them, bound to them.



  1. 176\. Pocket  
Tony’s pocket burns, it feels, with Pepper’s favourite pen and Happy’s doodled paper-scrap of a smiley face above the man’s own full name. But it’s a good burn, and he can’t stop grinning because of that, even when Fury’s waiting down the lobby of the tower, harping about his absence.



  1. 177\. Heavy  
There’s a heavy, charged feeling in the air outside the tower, and it matches Tony’s mood perfectly. He didn’t lose the grin under Fury’s tirade, but he did lose the cheer, and now he just wants to _go home_ , to _his family_. Still, he also wants to _tear_ things apart.



  1. 178\. Nest  
“ **Come home. Storm is coming,** ” Fié texts, and Tony comes home, through the means Fié taught him. Fury’s out of his mind when Fié drags him into the nest the family’s made in his Áyshkashla’s home’s living-room, composed of all the soft things and surfaces, three adults and seven children.



  1. 179\. Storm  
Fié _caused_ the storm, to _deter an advancing STRIKE team_. That clever, dangerous, powerful, vengeful bastard. Tony shakes his head on the confession, more amused than anything. “Just take care that you don’t ruin the climate and the farms,” he grins. “And you don’t become a second Thor, either.”



  1. 180\. Jerky  
On Thor’s name, Fié shuts down. Tony apologises. “Dunno what he did, though I admit I’m curious, but I won’t pry, ‘kay?” He nudges their shoulder gently with his own, then waves a beef jerky he’s just fished out of his pocket in front of their nose. “C’mon…. Your favourite.”



  1. 181\. Herd  
The milaða midgets are sent back to Ýmirheim, given the escalating tension and hostility between Ross and the family. Tony’s relieved he needn’t herd them anymore; but, at the same time, he misses their closeness, their attention, their _adoration_. Noticing, Bruce apologises. Tony glares. “Not your fault, buddy. It’s Ross’.”



182\. Roam  
Lacking the foreign midgets he’d like to show off earth to, Tony decides not to roam anymore. He urges Fié to return to Ýmirheim, to do whatever they did before and take care of the children, then returns to the US with Bruce and Anna. ` _Damn. What a crappy ending._ `


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the After-Ross months of adjustment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 187: _Teens:_ Implied Murder  
> Piece 188: _Explicit:_ Violence  
> Piece 190: _Teens:_ Parental Rejection  
> Piece 202: _Mature:_ Implied/Referenced Kidnapping, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-Con

New York, November-December 2013

  1. 183\. Origin  
Tony tries to be enthusiastic when Pepper shows off the hygiene-based conglomerate she’s turning out of the soap company he purchased forever ago. The humble origin makes it quite impressive, he tells her. He even has a few ideas to help the expanding business. But she notices his listnessness instead.



  1. 184\. Anchor  
Peter’s the only one that remains from the heyday before Ross. And now, the Parkers want Peter back, to enroll him in a public school, after a year being homeschooled and free to learn whatever he wants. And Tony _has no legal right_ to deny. ` _Good bye, anchor to sanity._ `



  1. 185\. Doll  
Pepper wants Tony to implement his own ideas about the business they co-own. But the daughters – ` _Why all girls?_ ` – his fellow billionaires sic on him “to help and for mutual experience” look and behave more like dolls than anything. ` _But Fié’s a mum and a badarse! So… just… why?_ `



  1. 186\. Invade  
Thor visits the tower, with Foster. Tony asks Pepper to distract Foster for a while and corners Thor for a long-overdue chat. And then he finds that, in the latter’s hubris, Thor _invaded_ Jötunheim – Ýmirheim, to the milaðen. Then, “Have you ever apologised to the ‘frost giants’, Thor?” he asks.



*187. Pair  
Tony asks for stories of the months before Farbauti’s death, to distract himself from the various reasons Thor spouts for _not_ apologising to the milaðen yet. And Fié texts back, “ **I carried a pair of twins, at the same time that you did with Lasla and Lafta. Asgard killed them.** ”

**188. Flat  
Videocall just worsens things. Voice and eyes flat, Fié drones about the three-pronged war that shook Ýmirheim, an Asgardian general – Týr – who _bashed their pregnant belly with a mace_ , premature childbirth wrought with dread and agony, a baby buried alive _by Farbauti’s underling_ , the other baby lost to the Asgardians….

  1. 189\. Priority  
“How did you live, then?” Tony’s proud that he doesn’t throw up, doesn’t croak much; _not yet_ , at least. And, in the same flat everything, Fié says simply, “First priority: I am a monarch, Mother of the nation, not only my children. I must survive. At least until Ýmirheim heals.”



*190. Still  
“Do you… think the lost baby, do you think they still live, somewhere?” Tony asks, tentatively. In answer, deep, silent agony temporarily breaks the flatness of Fié’s expression, and he hates himself for causing that, but then Fié says, “No longer my baby,” and he hates _Fié_ for that.

  1. 191\. Argument  
“I’m _not_ Farbauti and you still insist that the midgets are _mine_. So why not _you_? You going to just _give up_ on them?” Tony snarls. And Fié flinches, _shatters_ , bashed into emotional pieces by the argument, the words that Tony can’t deny meant to hurt. He flinches, himself, cringes.



  1. 192\. Duty  
The videocall ends, just so. But Fié doesn’t visit Tony, or text, or send anything, otherwise. ` _They’ve got duty to their country, and I’ve got duty to mine,_ ` He tells himself. He doesn’t believe it, though. Fié always had time for him, and he for them. This is just… wrong.



  1. 193\. Invention  
Tony finishes his “pathfinder” invention, at last. Apparently, the element that he missed to complete the thing is _magicwork_ , and Fié has taught him amply about it. It’s a small but bulky rod, perhaps the length of a pencil stub in the hand of a giant, like a blue-skinned Fié.



  1. 194\. Honour  
Thor thinks that the majority of earthlings got their honour eroded overtime. Tony agrees with him, but not really for the things he holds. Tony knows honour, taught by old-man Jarvis: fulfil promises, no backstabbing, say sorry when wrong, no taking advantage from the weak, but not really “warrior’s honour.”



**Ýmirheim, January-February 2014**

  1. 195\. Egress  
Tony maps out the points of entry and egress carefully; not only for the vital details, but also for possible watchers. Then, when everything’s ready, the pathfinder rod slips into his gloved hand, guides and pulls him along a path he can’t see. ` _Ýmirheim. Fié. Home,_ ` he thinks, wills, prays.



  1. 196\. Rich  
The air that filters through Tony’s woollen mask is cold, but not bitterly so. White-yellow light bathes the vista of rugged wasteland, weaker and softer than earth’s sun but so beautiful, so rich on the reflection of ice that layers everything. Ýmirheim, as Fié once described. ` _At last!_ `



  1. 197\. Theirs  
Fié’s _at least_ 18 feet tall. Lasla and Lafta are even _almost_ Tony’s height. And they’re all blue-skinned, black-clawed, black-toothed, red-eyed… nearly nude, too, for the older, and fully nude for the younger. Seeing them all, Tony beams. He got Fié, he got the children, and it’s all _theirs_.



  1. 198\. Rock  
Fié’s alarmingly subdued, past the initial shock and fury on Tony’s presence in their country, in their home. Tony tries his best to cheer them up, tag-teaming the effort with the no-longer-midgety midgets. But he’s also distracted by all the mineral-and-metal-containing rocks that Ýmirheim possesses in abundance, _absent on earth_.



  1. 199\. Dance  
“C’mon, dance with me? There’s just us,” Tony coaxes when, suddenly, quietly, Fié drops by at his latest “dig site” – which is just a shallowish hole near the city of giant buildings and people. He gets no answer, but Fié doesn’t sit far, and he counts it as a success.



  1. 200\. Unknown  
Angrboða – Anga – is the “First Regent” of Ýmirheim. But, more importantly, they’re the dad of the sibling-child Fié despises so much. Tony wants another perspective, so he asks them. And they tell him: about the child stuck in Asgard alongside their mother and womb-siblings… and their _unknown_ twin, long dead.



  1. 201\. Raw  
“We do not have the term ‘twins’ when regarding a pair of them, Tony. Only ‘twin’, because both are tightly interlocked. They are regarded as one entity. Losing half… the other does not survive long, usually, or grows twisted.” Anga doesn’t shout, doesn’t cry, but their voice is scraped raw.



*202. Thief  
“Bor _stole_ Bestla, my _spouse_ , while I was carrying our first child. He imprisoned them, tried to force them to bear ‘his children’, _moulded our children after him_ , Bé’s womb-children….” Anga chokes into silence. Tony can taste bile in his throat. If Anga’s right, Bor’s _more_ than just a thief.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and a rescue mission turned a reparation project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  General: Long-Lasting Consequences of Child Abuse  
> Piece 206: _Explicit:_ Past Sexual Abuse  
> Piece 207: _Explicit:_ Past Sexual Abuse, Culture Shock

**Asgard, End of February 2014**

  1. 203\. Lustre  
Tony left a note beside Fié’s pillow. Then he and Anga snuck into Asgard. And here they are, standing in the sun, blinking at all the gold things around. To think that people call _Tony_ gaudy…. If Anga’s right, though, this surface lustre has been hiding something very, very foul.



  1. 204\. Empty  
The throneroom’s empty of the quarry. The pair find them in the foyer of their – his? – suite, instead: an old man in everything that counts, with ice-blue eyes as empty as the throneroom was. “Why now?” he?… whispers, and the tone’s just as empty. ` _Why not before?_ ` Tony translates.



  1. 205\. Devotion  
There’s an empty suite nearby, and Tony somehow doesn’t like being close to it. Voðen walks inside as if without a care, though, _as if it’s home, once_. And inside, amidst all the scene of an abandoned house, a small dress lies untouched by dust. ` _A desperate devotion,_ ` Tony thinks.



**206. Wrong  
It’s _Voðen_ who shies away from a corner of the suite, where a bed crouches, wreaking of a plethora of dark emotions in Tony’s new perception. “What’s wrong there?” Tony prompts. And, in answer, Voðen shifts into… their… human-like milaða form, _and, tremblingly, lies naked, face-up, spread-eagle on the bed_.

**207. Culture Shock  
Tony gags, jolts away. Anga whines, sobs. And still, the truth lies before them. Then, as Tony hastily covers Voðen with a dusty blanket, Anga talks, stumblingly describing a milaða tradition where sometimes a parent helps giving a sex-ed to their child _by coupling with them_. ` _Talk about culture shock!_ `

  1. 208\. Roar  
It’s the tradition, but this is _not_ the tradition. Children should not be afraid, harmed, _forced_. Anga sobs so. “We fix it, then,” Tony says, bravado-speaking. He tugs Voðen up, saying, “you’ll come home,” and listens from afar as Voðen themself implodes the quarters in roar of air and magic.



  1. 209\. Emblem  
There’s a special spear that Anga once made for Voðen, their youngest kin-child, to help defend them. The spear’s been appropriated by Bor, then made into the emblem of kingship for Asgard, since it arrived in Voðen’s hand. And now, it’s no more, alongside the quarters that once caged them.



  1. 210\. Alternative  
So close to ground zero and perhaps also cut off by sheer relief, Voðen is now an unresponsive lump. Hidden by magic alongside the poor lump, Tony and Anga debates alternatives, as guards and servants and mages scurry here and there, fretting about a huge explosion in the royal wing.



  1. 211\. Hope  
“We can’t take Loptr and the Anchor right now, Anga. They’ll tie it all to us. We’ll just return later,” Tony whispers fiercely when there’s a chance. It’s been some time since the milaðen had much hope, though, instead of expectations, and he understands it, so he bears Anga’s fretting.



**Cracatoa Island, Sunda Strait, Indonesia, End of February 2014**

  1. 212\. Colourful  
“There was a thick forest here, with colourful birds and flowers, and a tall volcano instead of an island. Voluna loved it, before… before the end,” Anga looks round, lost. The trio have been deposited on what looks like a small desert island. Tony frowns. “Think I saw this once….”



  1. 213\. Necessary  
“No, it’s _necessary_ to separate them from Fié right now, Anga. Voðen can’t be crushed more and Fié can’t be riled up more,” Tony points out when Anga proposes that they go to Ýmirheim next. “This could be Cracatoa Junior. Gonna check and get us to the mainland if yes.”



**Jakarta, Indonesia, End of February-Middle of April 2014**

  1. 214\. Humble  
Anga didn’t lie about twins being tightly interlocked, maybe, because Voðen’s responsive _only_ when the trio were about to deviate from an invisible path that seemed to lead to something. And now they’re standing before a humble little house in one of the busier, more packed residence complexes in Jakarta.



  1. 215\. Déjà Vu  
A chocolate-skinned, curly-haired, squinty-eyed girl – late teen, maybe, like Helblindi – in shorts, T-shirt, magnifying specs and leg braces opens the front door on Tony’s knock. She promptly looks dazed and scared, despite none of the trio saying nor doing anything. ` _Déjà vu, maybe,_ ` Tony guesses, his hair raising on end.



  1. 216\. Clutch  
The girl looks even more freaked out when Voðen suddenly kneels and clutches her tightly in their arms. Tony can’t fault her. He – _and Anga_ – are freaked out, themselves. ` _This can’t go on, though. They’re attracting lots of attention._ ` But on the thought of separating them, Tony’s own heart clenches.



  1. 217\. Victim  
Surprisingly, it’s… not so hard… to convince the girl _and her parents_ that she’s a twin _in her past life_ , dying young as a victim of child abuse. Tony’s namedropping might help, supplementary to the fact that Voðen’s _never_ letting go of her… and she dreams about her “past,” _too_.



  1. 218\. Load  
“Come with us for a little while? To check for yourself? Your parents can hold my passport for guarantee, s’long as they don’t blab or lose the passport, n’I’ll give’m my number, too,” Tony proposes, translated by Anga. And, in short, he’s loading… new family members?… into a rental car.



  1. 219\. Smile  
In the three days since the girl – Cintosha, whom Tony calls Chan-Chan after her middle name – has been with them in the family suite Tony rented, Voðen has said and done nothing but to tag after her like her shadow. But today, when she pokes at his nose, he _smiles_.



  1. 220\. Fix  
“How can we fix this?” Tony mumbles, while he and Anga are spying on the twins, separated by _more_ than just a gulf of years and experiences, from behind the glass doors of the balcony. To that, Anga chuckles bitterly. “I think this is the extent of us ‘fixing’ it.”



  1. 221\. Liquid  
Voðen has a liquid grace in all their movement when they _want_ to move, and they rarely do… except when Chan-Chan proposes some swimming time, apparently. And in the swimming pool, Tony notices for the first time how twin-like they are, matching each other stroke for stroke without looking.



  1. 222\. Turbulent  
“They’re like fish,” Tony laughs, watching from the sidelines as the twins navigate the turbulent water of a far bigger, far more specialised swimming pool elsewhere, with all the waves, people and currents in it. Anga smiles, remarking, “It is in our nature, Tony. We are of the water.”



  1. 223\. Beautiful  
Superficially, Chan-Chan is far from beautiful, at least in Tony’s standard. But Voðen looks at her like she hung their favourite things in the sky, sometimes. Anga grins and laughs when he tells them that. “You are not beautiful, either, in many ways, but Fié is _smitten_ with you.”



  1. 224\. Flag  
Chan-Chan is apparently a collector of little, hand-held flags… and maybe ready to call it quits, too. Because one morning she asks Anga if Ýmirheim has such flag she can collect, _as keepsake_. Voðen’s understandably alarmed. Tony wouldn’t ever guess they’d give her _their Asgardian kingly ring_ , though.



  1. 225\. Lead  
“You can’t lead, if you’re an automaton like that,” Tony muses during the bad moment that immediately befalls Voðen after the ring thing. But Anga disagrees. “One just does as one is expected. Fié was like that, until they stumbled on you recently.” Then, quieter, “I am like that, too.”



  1. 226\. Pliant  
“Please reconsider?” Anga begs as they drape Voðen over Chan-Chan, pliant and blank like a stick of playdough. The girl shakes her head, looking lost and scared. “I have… adoption… adopted, twins, at home. Still small. They need me. I need to work, for… to… for them to grow up.”



227\. Stuck  
Chan-Chan won’t accept Tony’s “charity.” But he knows well that taking care of Voðen is more than a full-time job, in their current condition. He doesn’t have much time to convince her, though, because Peter’s just called, wanting to spend part of his spring break with Tony. “Huh. I’m stuck.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and attempts at protection for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 232: _Explicit:_ Graphic Medical Condition  
> Piece 233: _Heavy Teens:_ Impnding Death  
> Piece 235: _Heavy Teens:_ References to Sexual Content, Medical Procedure  
> Piece 236: _Mature:_ Nudity, Implied/Referenced Sexual Content  
> Piece 237: _Mature:_ Implied/Referenced Sexual Content  
> Piece 240: _Mature:_ Unusual Foreplay

**Stark Tower, New York, Middle of April 2014**

  1. 228\. Effervescent  
Peter’s effervescent, as usual, but Tony can’t match the spirit, right now. He left Voðen and Chan-Chan behind, and it goes against his new-old instincts. Worse, Anga’s going back to Ýmirheim without him, to check on Fié who hasn’t answered Tony’s texts and videocalls. _Worst_ , Peter _notices_ and falls silent.



  1. 229\. Woman  
Betty Ross is a fierce, sharply smart woman, more loyal and righteous than kind. But then, she must be like that to survive growing up and living under general – now Secretary – Ross’ thumb, Tony supposes. And now she’s in Stark tower, living with her little family, _without telling Tony beforehand_.



**Antarctica, End of April- End of May 2014**

  1. 230\. Huddle  
Tony brings Peter and the little family to his Antarctic bunker when Ross the elder comes a-calling. Watching Bruce, Anna and Betty huddling together on the sofa there under a thermal duvet is… painful, though. It should be he and Fié and the midgets there, his heart treacherously whispers.



  1. 231\. Current  
Tony isn’t in the habit of noticing calendars, whether personal or global. But now, as he realises that his chest’s arc reactor’s somehow failing him _again_ , he does notice that he, once more, is approaching yet another birthday. Tiredly, he wonders what his current predicament will bring into the mix.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, End of May 2014**

**232. Dogged  
Tony thought that his charm and Anga’s dogged determination would be able to mollify Fié. But no, Fié’s still totally silent, not responding to Tony’s texts and videocalls. And Tony can clearly see the shrapnel trying to force themselves _outward_ towards the arc reactor; ever healed, but _slower_ each time.

*233. Three  
“ **Fié, there’s an expression here, three times the charm. So maybe the trouble will stop after this. Whether it means I’m dead or completely free of it, I don’t know. But if I’m dead at the end of this, I don’t want to go while we’re still having this silence.** ”

  1. 234\. Heir  
Anga stands abruptly, silently behind Tony in the tower’s medical wing, an hour after he texted Fié. “Give Fié heirs first before you go gallivanting elsewhere,” they murmur – smiling, hiding things behind it – when Tony’s eyes meet theirs. “Who knows, it might cheer them up. No going anywhere before that.”



**Ýmirheim, End of May-June 2014**

*235. Pieces  
Anga _tricked_ Tony. He came, expecting a farewell shag or at least a face-to-face good-bye that Fié can’t flee from. But he’s instead ushered _directly_ to _another_ medical healing and strong-armed to undergo a medical procedure. And now, he sees shrapnel pieces from his chest gleaming on a blood-spotted tray.

*236. Roll  
“Never thought a giant could roll up so small,” tony remarks when, pronounced all-healed by the medical team, he _finally_ gets to bother Fié. And Fié’s indeed rolled up in one corner of the nest: face hidden, back on him, all alone… and naked. “D’ya know how _sexy_ this is?”

*237. Waddle  
Anga’s laughter, the first thing that welcomes the duo in the dining hall, seem all delighted, incredulous and amused. No wonder: _Both_ Tony and Fié have to waddle everywhere, after their long, rigorous reunion and stress relief. But Tony’s now blue-skinned at will, _taller than Fié_ , and he likes it.

  1. 238\. Power  
Hope’s a terrific power, Tony thinks. He and Fié are practically glued to each other, even while eating in the dining hall, and everyone who eats with them seems to draw the scene in to sure up themselves. They look – _feel_ – lively and strong, now, no longer defeated and tired.



  1. 239\. Terrible  
At the same time, though, Tony can’t help musing, hope’s a _terrible_ power, able to bash someone into smaller pieces than without it if not fulfilled. He _knows_ it, from countless lessons from his own mum and dad. Perhaps these people know from body language that Fié’s pregnant. But _if_ ….



*240. Sheet  
No more horrible what-ifs and if-onlys, Tony decides as night comes and he’s still alone with Fié in the nest. ` _What will come, will come,_ ` he chants, while rolling a laughing Fié into a sheet, nibbling all exposed skin as it’s slowly covered, and calling it a “reversed sausage roll.”

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, Early July 2014**

  1. 241\. Fake  
Thor had to go back to Asgard. “Grave trouble,” he said. Foster wants to go after him, and pesters Tony for the pathfinder rod for that. Tony gives her the fake, the one without the magicwork, because he knows she’s not safe in Asgard right now… or maybe _ever_.



**Antarctica, Early July 2014**

  1. 242\. Sand  
“I miss sand, and sandcastles, in a beach,” Peter admits privately to Tony one day, as he and Bruce’s family are still cooped up in Tony’s Antarctic bunker. “I… well, miss playing with the kids, actually. Weren’t you there just now? How were they? Can I go visit?”



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, Early July 2014**

  1. 243\. Floor  
In all the exhausting excitement, exciting exhaustion and other cares, Tony’s _forgotten_ about _his bots_. He realises this only when, as he’s visiting the tower to see if he can return everyone there, JARVIS tentatively reminds him. So he gets down on his lab’s floor and… just… hugs them tight.



  1. 244\. Arm  
“Mister Stark… you said you aren’t in the arms business anymore,” Foster says, carefully neutral. Tony grunts, eyes on his latest project, ‘sixth sense’ on the woman jittering behind his work-stool. “Who says this is considered as ‘arm’? Also, dun’cha realise Thor’s a _warrior_ and this is a _restricted_ floor?”



**Wakanda, Central Africa, Middle-End of July 2014**

  1. 245\. Trial  
Tony made an alloy, from the lightest but most durable metals on Earth _and_ Ýmirheim. He forged a stretchy armour from that alloy, able to stretch and compact to thrice its size. Now’s the trial period, in Wakanda, because one of the Earth metals is the vibranium that Wakandans hord.



  1. 246\. Case  
“Brucey, please? I do need Hulky’s help. At least let me explain the case to him? Maybe not in the tower, yeah, but somewhere green outside? Doesn’t he like Fié, too? This armour’s for Fié, ‘specially for their belly, ‘cause they’re pregnant and, last time, someone bashed their belly….”



  1. 247\. Rags  
Someone in rags approaches Tony in his Wakandan lab. He nearly pushes the alarm button. But the intruder turns to be… just… one of _Voðen’s guards_?… in the _wrong_ disguise. “How can you be a guard if you can’t tell the situation and adapt to it?” Tony raises an eyebrow.



  1. 248\. Arid  
Asgardians have arid imagination, lack of systematic education, and towering arrogance. Tony comes to this conclusion when the so-called guard sheepishly explains that 1) _all_ Asgardians _believes_ that “Midgard” is _still_ populated by rustic villages, 2) nobody researched the case before this, and 3) nobody thought it could be otherwise.



  1. 249\. Awry  
Things go awry _for the guard_ when he tries to stealthily aim a pathfinder-something at Tony, perhaps to triangulate where Voðen is. Because Tony’s been… trained… by the _stealthier_ midgets trying to prank him, is rather sensitive to magicwork by now, and is protective of the lump in Chan-Chan’s care.



  1. 250\. Emotion  
Based on previous interactions, Tony thought that the only emotions most Asgardians feel are anger, offence, puppy-like adoration, condescension and battle-lust. But, just now, _another_ guard’s just materialised, nearly atop the – battered – first one, and the said first one is clearly _petrified_ of the newcomer; guilty and desperate, to boot.



  1. 251\. Bowl  
 _Un_ fortunately, this newcomer’s stronger, quicker and more to-the-point than the other. In a short amount of time, Tony got himself tied up in his swivel chair, sans everything that could be weaponised, gagged, and watching wide-eyed as the newcomer scries Voðen on Tony’s bowl of soup. And the scrying _works_.



  1. 252\. Freeze  
On the now mirror-like surface of the soup, Voðen freezes, and their eyes – more lucid than even the first time Tony saw them in this form – lock on the newcomer, as if knowing that they’re being watched. And the newcomer breathes, _in relief_ , in Ýmska at that, “You are safe.”



  1. 253\. Tend  
“Who has been tending them? Where are they? What is your relationship with them?” the newcomer fires out, after removing the gag. Tony gives him a look and drawls, “Why would I tell you any of those? You haven’t even given me your name, or your promise of safe conduct.”



  1. 254\. Sliver  
A sliver of apprehension ghosts across Tony’s heart when the newcomer just vanishes with his predecessor; not saying a word, let alone releasing the poor captive. But then he returns _alone_ , takes the swivel chair that You has just pushed towards him without batting an eye, and tony _somehow_ relaxes.



  1. 255\. Value  
Tony’s still tied up, but he’s the one interrogating the stranger. After he dangled the promise of a videocall with Chan-Chan and _maybe_ Voðen, true, but to him it just shows how much the Asgardian values that chance, to willingly submit to a “weaker” opponent _just for that_. Thor _wouldn’t_.



  1. 256\. Pail  
Chan-Chan responds to the videocall while strolling through a plastic-pail graveyard, it seems, judging from the numerous old and broken plastic pails of all sizes and colours all round her. An upturned pail’s even sitting on her head. And then the camera moves, and Voðen can be seen… also pail-headed.



  1. 257\. Astonished  
Kientar, the would-be interrogator and former interrogatee, lets out an astonished sound. Tony laughs, for that and the view. “Good hats, twinnies,” he comments, grinning broadly. “You working in a scavanging yard, now? Or searching for parts?” He laughs louder when Voðen lifts a partially assembled pail-car to the camera.



  1. 258\. Emersion  
“That’s a good example of a successful emersion, y’know,” Tony grins at Kientar when, long after the videocall ended, the latter’s still silent and looks totally stumped. Kientar makes a grunting, whining noise to that, and Tony bursts into laughter once more; delighted, amused and _relieved_. Voðen’s now mor-or-less healed.



  1. 259\. Oblong  
Tony videocalls the twins again once Kientar’s gone. He spends much time admiring, critiquing and suggesting more things for the pail-car, which by now has taken a roughly oblong shape from the pail parts cut up and reassembled. He so _loves_ this: how _fortunate_ , unpriveleged children create toys for themselves.



260\. Forest  
All the fun, bright things he’s experienced fuels Tony’s spirit _and patience_ when Bruce _at last_ consents for Hulk to help him testing the stretchy armour in a Wakandan forest. After so much time and effort and explanation, he even gets to _play_ with Hulk, after – _successfully_ – testing the armour.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and lessons in alien domesticity and defence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 287: _Heavy Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Torture  
> Piece 288: _Mature:_ Implied/Referenced Torture, Aftermath of Torture

**Ýmirheim, August 2014**

  1. 261\. Leaf  
“ _Laufey_ , why did I have to find your _real_ name from a _book_?” Tony complains while Fié’s trying on the stretchy armour in the nest. In retaliation, they point out that “Tony” is a nickname, comparable to “Fié.” And all that Tony can say to that is, “Damn you, _Leaf_.”



  1. 262\. Drawing  
There are traditional coloured drawings – _Fié’s drawings_ – in one of the many drawers lining the nest’s walls. Tony pages through the bundles of strange, plastic-like sheets; laughing on many, smiling on most, and pondering on some. Fié, head on Tony’s lap, comments on Tony’s reactions instead; acerbic and grumpy, embarrassment-driven.



  1. 263\. Letter  
Tony _hates_ composing a letter. A text message is far better. But he _needs_ this to be formal, sadly. His dream zoo must be above-board. Fortunately, despite the “drawing moment,” and after explaining the said zoo to them, Fié agrees to help him. So, “ **Dear Mr. Owen Grady,…** ”



  1. 264\. Tangent  
The e-mails quickly go off on a tangent about the merits of serving fastfood on military cafetaria; definitely informal, now, past Owen’s “ **Yes** ” on consulting for Tony’s zoo. Fié _somehow_ finds it very funny. The loon’s rolling about in the nest, howling with laughter, after reading it over Tony’s shoulder.



  1. 265\. Fend Off  
Tony wants the zoo to be a surprise for the midgets. Seeing as the nest’s been full during Fié’s latest antics, though, he’s got to _actively_ fend off their eager inquiries _and snooping eyes_ , if he wants it _still_ to be a secret till the D-Day. “Your fault, _Leaf_.”



  1. 266\. Braid  
Claiming to show him their contriteness, Fié tortures Tony’s hair – longer, bushier and thicker in the blue-skinned form he always adopts on Ýmirheim – into intricate loops of braids. Most everyone look wide-eyed at the organic crown-thing, though, and Tony gets suspicious. ` _Damn clever bastard. They tricked me again! What now?_ `



**New York, United States, September 2014**

  1. 267\. Ill  
Tony rushes back to Earth, to New York, to Peter’s Queens home, when May Parker texts him that Peter’s ill for several days already, after a school field trip to Oscorp, a genetic pharmaceutical research and production company. ` _If anything happens to him, I’ll **kill** them. See if I don’t!_`



  1. 268\. Peace  
Tony panics even more when Fié’s suddenly there, in their human-like form, once he’s moved Peter to the tower. He can’t deny stealing some peace in the moment when they hug him from behind, cradling him close, but still, “You shouldn’t be here. Think of the littlest midget, Leaf.”



  1. 269\. Elaborate  
Trying to distract himself, Tony retreats to his lab and elaborates about his dream zoo to Pepper. In reply, she sends him online brochures about zoos and safari parks round the world, then refers him to John Hammond from InGen, who once asked SI to invest in a “special zoo.”



  1. 270\. Leather  
Tony fretted about the wrong thing. Fié and their little bump are not in danger from Peter’s illness, but _humans_. _SHIELD agents_ are trying to usher Fié out of the tower’s lobby. JARVIS shows him the footage. Fury’s machination, no doubt. “That leather-fettish _fiend_. – J, get Fury on the line.”



  1. 271\. Vocal  
The PR team got another big, humanitarian job to be vocal about. While the subject in concern was Bruce, now it’s aliens. Because Fury wanted to bring Fié in for “questioning,” for “suspicion of turning people into aliens, starting from the Iron Man.” ` _Must be Barton’s idea. That little shit._ `



  1. 272\. Lecture  
Cap lectures Tony: about not defying “the good guys” at every turn, being more present as an Avenger, _surrendering Fié to SHIELD_. So Tony lectures him back: about following orders blindly, not trying to live the first time over, _joining ungrateful people in trying to stab the home-owner from behind_.



  1. 273\. Street Vendor  
That night, as Tony walks Fié and a recently recovered Peter to his favourite haunt, a street vendor offers them free samples _while bowing his head in obeisance_. Tony chuckles. “Busted again, buddy. What’s your mission, now?” Because it’s the fumbling, inept Asgardian guard from before: Kalahar, Kientar’s littlest brother.



  1. 274\. Kind  
“Kientar trusts you to do right by me.” Kalahar sounds shruggy, almost unconcerned. “He removed me from the active roster and assigned me to protect you for Ðinyé.” An openly sheepish grin, then, “I believe he means _you_ to protect _me_ instead. You were kind to me, after all.”



  1. 275\. Less  
“I _beat you up_ and you call me _kind_?!” Tony narrows his eyes. On Kalahar’s easy agreement, he scoffs. But the Asgardian speaks before he can: “You did not kill me. You would be less kind, however, if I fell unconscious. Kientar said, ‘Unconscious people can’t learn. Now you learnt.’”



  1. 276\. Tunnel  
The now quartet return from the cupcake-selling shop through another route: Tony brought them to an SI warehouse complex just outside NYC on foot, guided by JARVIS via his Starkphone’s GPS, then back to the tower via _his_ simple tunnel system. And all because of _numerous_ guarded eyes watching them.



  1. 277\. Shipwright  
Fié _at last_ consents to go home, after the night’s incident. Not without a hard bargain, though. They send Ýmirheim’s foremost shipwright to come discuss _and_ build a ship for Tony, and Tony _must_ depart Earth on it with his loved ones on _the slightest hint_ of trouble brewing big.



  1. 278\. Attack  
“Where is the alien, Mister Stark?” is Agent Pretender’s opening line when she happens to intersect with Tony before the tower’s special lift. Tony considers it an attack, so, raising a challenging eyebrow, he says flippantly, “Here. Two of them. ‘Alien’ isn’t ‘human’, after all, and we’re not humans anymore.”



  1. 279\. Peer  
The shipwright, Ýoluti, is a delightful elderly milaða who turns out to have roamed much of the _universe_ in their youth, until slightly before the Asgard-and-Ýmirheim-A-B war. Curiosity-and-chatteriness-wise, they’re pretty much Tony’s peer. Knowledge-wise…. Well, Tony _rarely_ feels so _delightfully_ humbled. And still, they’re striking up a _joint venture_!



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 5th October 2014**

  1. 280\. Dense  
Peter accidentally blabs about Ýoluti’s presence, when he comes home to the tower for the afternoon and chirps to Tony _in the lobby_ about introducing “Elder O’u” to his space-series lego kit. As the result, _someone_ pumps volumes of dense fog up the vents to _try_ to flush Ýoluti out.



  1. 281\. Take  
SHIELD _doesn’t know_ that milaðen are creatures of water and magic. Ýoluti navigates the floors calmly, silently and smoothly, gathers Tony and Peter, and takes them to the newly completed spaceskiff. ` _Damn. Fié must’ve instructed them,_ ` Tony grumps, as the now unsmiling grannie buckles him down in the co-pilot seat.



  1. 282\. Hull  
When somebody knocks on the outer hull of the spaceskiff, Tony thinks they’re caught before they can go. But Fié apparently stashed another ace in their loincloth, or somebody got the initiative to look out for the stud of the Monarch, because the intruder turns out to be _another_ milaða.



  1. 283\. Shoe  
Tony nonchalantly lowers the shoe he’s been holding and puts it back on. “You’re familiar,” he remarks, instead of saying sharper things. The newcomer, bringing Pepper and Kalahar with them, smiles gently. “The Sherlock-Holmes hat was a good disguise _on the first night_ ,” they say, and Tony _knows_. ` _The doctor._ `



  1. 284\. Past Glory  
The spaceskiff has been installed in a soundproof, walled-off portion of Tony’s second floor, just below his penthouse, accessible only from a trapdoor at the bottom of the jakuzi in Tony’s second penthouse guest room’s en-suite. It’s safe, but boring. To battle that, Kalahar talks about… _Asgard’s_ past glory. ` _Umm._ `



  1. 285\. Ball  
Tony saves the stupid would-be guard before there’s a mauling incident involving hacked-off milaðen. “There’s a ball stashed here somewhere. Go play with Peter at the back, _gently_. Shoo.” He gives Peter a look when the boy’s about to protest. Well, it can be punishment for the blabbing, too.



  1. 286\. Find  
“J, retract our funds from SHIELD,” Tony, grinning wolfishly, proceeds to instruct JARVIS, after the AI brought his wandering attention to the documents SI’s legal team has recently unearthed from the depths of the past: _Much_ of SHIELD’s funding comes from SI _and_ Howard’s – now _Tony’s_ – personal estate.



*287. Chain  
JARVIS himself has been busy, apparently. He’s managed to track down seemingly unrelated things from various SHIELD and SHIELD-related servers throughout the years since the Battle of New York. He’s playing a video from the stash now, and it’s…, _Why’s Loki **here** – **how** – strapped down naked in chains – what **for**?!!_`

*288. Race  
A “ _subsidiary_ ” of SHIELD. Down in Turkey. Video dated _yesterday_. Loki’s prison log dated _months ago_. During Thor’s return to Asgard after Voðen’s rescue, in fact. And the life stats say that Loki’s _slipping away_. “Buckle up, people. We go to Turkey,” Tony barks. It’ll be his most horrible race.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the Rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  General: Implied/Referenced Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Dealing with Trauma  
> Piece 289: _Explicit:_ Graphic Aftermath of Torture, Implied/Referenced Sexual Abuse  
> Piece 290: _Heavy Teens:_ Canon-Typical Violence, Mad Science  
> Piece 294: _Heavy Teens:_ Wartime Violence on Civilians  
> Piece 295: _Heavy Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Non-Consentual Body Modification, Canon-Typical Violence  
> Piece 309: _Heavy Teens:_ Canon-Typical Violence, Aftermath of Torture  
> Piece 313: _Teens:_ Parental Rejection, Past Child Neglect  
> Piece 327: _Teens:_ Near Miscarriage

**Turkey, 5th October 2014**

**289. Well  
It’s all that Tony can do not to throw up, to focus on _just_ the impromptu mission. To call Loki “not well” would be a gross understatement. Some body parts are _missing_ , the gag from _years ago_ are still on, and so do the chains, and… between his legs….

*290. Science  
JARVIS broke into the intranet while the milaðen got busy photographing and destroying samples, people, _everything_. Tony reads the gathered info while the AI steers the spaceskiff away from Earth, while Loki lies unresponsive in a cooling blanket on the deck by his side. And… “For _science_?!!” he breathes, disbelieving.

**Switzerland, 5th-6th October 2014**

  1. 291\. Weightless  
Loki’s body is practically weightless in Tony’s arms, when the spaceskiff – the _Rescue_ , he names it, after this unplanned maiden voyage – lands back on Earth but… somewhere in the remote areas of Europe… and its passengers disembark. Ýoluti has pleaded for _discreet_ medical aid from Ýmirheim, and now’s the chance.



  1. 292\. Hill  
“This is so UFO-ish,” Tony notes – partly in dark amusement, partly in factual concern – as he surveys the surroundings. They’ve landed on the top of a hill, and Týo – the DWB doctor, the milaða who once rescued Tony – have enshrouded everything in fog. Too late to find another place, though.



  1. 293\. Ability  
“Do I have the ability?” Tony asks abruptly, after some time staring at the spaceskiff, where the medics have decided to treat Loki after all. Beside him, Týo humms in acknowledgement, then says, “To heal others? Almost everyone has it. The _affinity_ , however, is another matter entirely.”



*294. School  
“Do you have… like… medical schools? On Ýmirheim?” Tony’s too strung-up to stay silent for long. Týo shakes their head, murmuring tightly, “No longer. The war – _Asgard_ – decimated our schools – _all_ schools – through seemingly random Bifrost-deployed troops. The teachers and students were… not prepared. Our internal factions _never_ targeted schools.”

*295. Treat  
Tony winces. He doesn’t know how he’ll treat Thor after this, knowing everything that’s happened with Ýmirheim, with _Loki_. And to think, Ýmirheim’s top-boss is the one who tricked him into changing – in most senses of the word – and Loki himself – themself? – _threw him out of the fucking hundredth floor_.

  1. 296\. Wall  
“We have done all that we could do, Aslakonnar,” the head of the medics reports, bowing, with throat slightly beared. “Only assured safety, the family bond and the child’s own will can heal them the rest of the way.” And Tony sees why. There’s an invisible wall round Loki, now.



  1. 297\. Present  
SI’s bord of directors wants to boot Tony out completely, for not being more present in the running of the conglomerate or even his own “small subsidiary.” Tony stares at the e-mail and doesn’t know what to think, wat to feel. Pepper, though, is _livid_. “Those bastard – I’ll _show_ them!”



**Earth, 7th-8th October 2014**

  1. 298\. Semantics  
Tony forbids Pepper from returning. “It could be a trap.” Then he goes into a sniping match with Cap, while the spaceskiff runs round the globe. Words like “protection,” “questioning,” and “safety measure” are thrown to him, reasons for the latest hullabaloo. ` _Well, if they want to play with semantics…._ `



  1. 299\. Aversion  
“Do you have that much aversion to rule, Mister Stark?” Cap asks, at last, apparently genuinely. Tony snorts, contemptuous, unmoved by the tiredness in the man’s whole expression. “Do you have that much aversion to critical thinking and independence, Mister Rogers?” He could say more, but Peter’s watching him, wide-eyed.



  1. 300\. Time  
“ **I regret not being present while Betty was carrying Anna,** ” Bruce texts Tony, seemingly quite out of the blue. Tony purses his lips. “ **Take care of the bots for me?** ” he sends back, at length. He’s sure Fié still has much time carrying the sprog, but he does miss them.



  1. 301\. Get  
Fié’s text message gets to Tony before he can ask Ýoluti to get them to Ýmirheim: “ **The burial ice was broken Loki’s body was gone they are reborn Afa they are reborn but I do not know where Afa I am afraid please search around there? Ask for Ýoluti’s help.** ”



  1. 302\. Downy  
Ýoluti reads the message, then silently returns the phone. Still silent, they lead Tony to the back of the spaceskiff, where Loki – Loptr? – lies… or _lay_ , rather, since what’s there now is a… _toddler_ , he thinks, not an _adult_ , with downy hair and little body and little limbs and all.



  1. 303\. Eye  
Tony’s heart clenches tight. This child – whoever they are – is looking round wildly, with wide, frightened eyes so green, so similar to Fié’s that forever ago, at the beginning of their acquaintanceship. If this is _Loki_ – not the dead twin, but Loptr-who-got-misnamed-by-the-kidnapping-Voðen…. He doesn’t know what to think, feel, _everything_.



  1. 304\. Foam  
The _Rescue_ slips towards Malibu via a combination of air and _under_ water travels. Tony tries with all his might _not_ to notice when they’re fully under, but the foam and sprays that fill the bottom of the windows when they’re half-submerged are nice to see. ` _Maybe I’m becoming more ‘alien’…._ `



  1. 305\. In Case  
In his Malibu home, Tony drops Pepper and Kalahar and loads _all_ of his bots, equipment and notes into the spaceskiff, as well as logistics. “Don’t _ever_ leave Pep’s side,” he instructs Kalahar while doing so. “I put the suits under your charge. Use’m to guard yourselves. Just in case….”



  1. 306\. More  
“We shall need more space if Aslakonnar intends to live on board,” Ýoluti remarks, amused, when the _Rescue_ – now definitely much fuller than before – is set up to go again, after Pepper promised to “get the naughty toddlers on timeout and clean-out duty” herself. Tony nods. “Next project,” he promises.



**Puncak Jaya, Papua, Indonesia, 9th-15th October 2014**

  1. 307\. Rain  
Tony sets the _Rescue_ down in the backyard of his Papua home, just as the sky’s pouring down. And, surprisingly, the fairly composed grannie that’s Ýoluti rushes out of the spaceskiff, just to run round, _dancing under the rain_. “There is no _water_ rain on Ýmirheim,” Týo explains. ` _But still!_ `



  1. 308\. Cube  
Tony waves a randomised rubic’s cube before the skittish, withdrawn little child, who hasn’t moved away from the bunk they’ve found themself on since the start. “C’mon, kid…,” he coaxes, somewhat impatiently. “I want outta here. There’s a nest with our names on it. Duncha wanna go rest and play?”



*309. Learn  
Through various experiments, Tony learns that the child is _still_ Loptr the Misnamed, who infamously went by _Loki_ , who ever threw him out of his penthouse’ window, _who got tortured senselessly in all sorts of ways by SHIELD until so recently_. He’s yet to learn how they got kiddified, though.

  1. 310\. Branch  
“Oh. You think what? A bird’s nest? With branches?” Tony peeks over his fat but airy duvet, which he uses for the sheer comfort of snuggling under a blanket. And he finds Loki – no, _Loptr_ , since Fié thinks the dead-twin-Loki is back among the living – gawping at the comfy squishiness.



  1. 311\. Opaque  
“Frightening” is Loki’s – _Loptr’s_ – default look, Tony thinks, unnerved despite himself, because he invites… them?… to bed and the child replies just with an opaque stare. If not the madness with occasional desperate lucidity from the New York’s Invasion, it’s the totally vacant look from the recent rescue, or _this_.



  1. 312\. Steal  
Tony’s half asleep when the various cushions and sheets by his feet shift, followed by the mattress dipping a little to his left, where it’s empty. The skittish, withdrawn little child’s trying to steal across somewhere, and he hasn’t the heart to spoil the “mission,” so he pretends to sleep.



*313. Main  
Tony’s main concern with the newly kiddified – former? – villain _isn’t_ that they’ll kill themself, or even that they’ll kill him and others. No, it’s got to do with Fié’s bitter pronouncement that time – _“No longer my baby.”_ – and how Howard chased after _dead people_ instead of his own _living son_.

  1. 314\. Victory  
Tony fights not to react in any way when, slowly but surely, the small, cautious weight settles down just out of arm’s reach. The mattress dips deeper, soon enough, and the sleep-breathing starts not long after. Victory tastes sweet, despite possible future problems. Especially when the slumbering child rolls _closer_.



  1. 315\. Bare  
It’s been so long, it feels, since last Tony heard soft patters of small, bare feet on the floor that are this cautious and conscious of distance. Surprisingly, it’s saddening. But at least, the footsteps follow him wherever he goes, with just a single instruction. ` _Were they ever obedient, before?_ `



  1. 316\. Slender  
A tiny, slender arm comes into view with the sought-for tool, without being asked, as Tony works on checking on the _Rescue_. He looks up with a smile, which shrivels as he meets the small eyes blown wide, perpetually terrified. The once-Tony-tosser is _petrified_ of him, somehow. It’s _fear-born_ obedience.



  1. 317\. Cold  
There’s no more snow on the mountaintop, Tony heard, but the weather’s still cold enough, especially for a tiny midget who’s coming out of deep physical, mental and emotional trauma. And yet, they follow him out to the fence, on bare feet and garbed only in a loose, flimsy shift.



  1. 318\. Terror  
Unbridled terror is what Tony gets when he swoops down and picks the bony little frame up into his arms. _Loptr_ is tense but shivering so hard, and none of his reassurances make an effect. Only when he fetches warm clothing for them _as promised_ do they calm down _slightly_.



  1. 319\. Ruffle  
Peter’s playing ball again, now willingly, with Ýoluti. Loptr, showered and properly attired after a fussy, terror-inducing – for them – ordeal of clean-up time, pretends not to watch from the sidelines. Tony notices, though, despite his preoccupation with the diagrams of the new space _ship_. He ruffles their hair. “Shoo. Go play.”



  1. 320\. Child  
Tony’s been chit-chatting with Fié these several days, and _stalling_. He doesn’t know how to tell them that their _rejected_ surviving child has invaded two worlds, been tortured in all sorts of ways, and in his keeping these handful of days. This evening’s just the same as before, unfortunately.



  1. 321\. Box  
Loptr has found a largish, sturdy box somewhere, and stolen various soft squishies from the nest to line its insides. “They are missing their mother, unconsciously,” Týo quietly explains, on Tony’s baffled look. On his more baffled look, they say, “The womb, and the power that surrounded them in it.”



  1. 322\. Pen  
Tony’s putting pen to pepper, so to say, at long last. No more stalling. Loptr _isn’t_ like the Loki that he knew, and they’re hurting, and he bets that Fié’s secretly hurting, too, or they wouldn’t be so bitter, so sharp about the rejection… maybe. Anyway, it’s _all_ out, now.



  1. 323\. Ground  
Anga _summoned_ Tony to Ýmirheim, to the nest, and here he is, holding Fié close, trying to ground them as they fall apart for the however-many times now. It doesn’t help that he feels like falling apart, _too_ , and he _isn’t_ a sympathetic crier, usually.



  1. 324\. Tiny  
Loptr, still sleeping but now sleeping _sounder_ , is just a tiny, tiny ball in Fié’s trembling arms. Tony immortalises the scene in his first magically taken photograph, as guided by Týo, who turns out to be part of Ýmirheim’s _elite commando unit_ , aside from Tony-saving DWB doctor and milaða-matters consultant.



  1. 325\. Agony  
It’s so, so sudden. Tony’s _just_ quick enough to catch Loptr, who’s fallen from Fié’s limp arms, while Fié themself falls back, spasming, twisting about, wailing thinly in agony. “Post-stress crash,” Týo diagnoses, while Tony’s scrambling, trying to calm Loptr _and_ Fié down. ` _Why, why, why did I tell them?_ `



  1. 326\. Bond  
“Some need a deep, constant bond with the sire of their children when they are carrying,” Týo explains when Fié’s finally calming down, being clamped against Tony by his arms and legs. “It is oftentimes the sign that they are carrying children with strong power. The bond provides necessary support.”



*327. Figure  
“So Fié nearly lost the kid because of _stress_?” Tony’s breath hitches. In his arms, Fié whimpers. Týo doesn’t speak for a long moment. And then what they say is, “I figured that, if Ðolukonnar spent the nights with Aslakonnar, the bond would be satisfied.” Tony swallows. ` _It’s true, then._ `

  1. 328\. Rope  
The night’s silence is _once more_ broken as Fié startles awake from a – most likely involuntary – doze. They blurt something in Ýmska that Tony doesn’t catch, in a panic, and Týo translates, “They are hanging on to a rope. They are scared. My baby is stranded on a rotting boat.”



**Azkaban, North Sea, 15th October 2014**

  1. 329\. Chase  
Fié’s and Loptr’s intuitions are a perfect compass for pinpointing the now-resurrected baby’s location. ` _I’m living in a fucking odd alternate reality,_ ` Tony muses resignedly as the _Rescue_ chases down the rotting boat from Fié’s… dream? Vision? And, freakily, there’s indeed a rotting boat, _in the middle of the sea_.



  1. 330\. Set  
The baby, not-misnamed-Loki, is a gaunt, dirty, smelly, petrified tiny thing curled up tight at one end of the boat, clutching a frayed rope dangling from a rusty loop on its side with all their might. Tony’s heart clenches, _again_. He recognises this. “Well, we’ve got a set, we do.”



  1. 331\. Fame  
“I… recognise this,” Týo murmurs, shocked, when they gently brush the baby’s fringes aside, once the latter’s been towed aboard, boat and all. There’s a faded lightning-bolt-shaped scar on the little brow, right above the – ` _Green, so green._ ` – right eye. “Poor little one. Fame only costs you grief, did it?”



  1. 332\. Narrow  
“There is a _very_ narrow margin between life and death for this little one,” Týo continues to say, in addition to other _alarming_ details that makes Tony narrow his eyes in fury. He can’t blow up now, though, because, pressed flush against him, Fié’s beginning to tremble again. ` _Not yet._ `



  1. 333\. Omen  
It’s _really_ not a good omen when, tracking the boat’s path back to its starting point via tech-incorporated magicwork, Ýoluti brings them to the rickety dok of a _literal_ gothic house of horrors in an island in the North Sea. Fortunately Fié’s asleep, tucked in with their babies and Peter.



  1. 334\. Look  
“Looks can be deceiving,” Ýoluti offers hesitantly. Tony gives them an incredulous look, in turn. “I’m not much into these things yet, and _I_ know what a bad news this dump is.” Because there’s a chill in his every cell that’s _not_ caused by just the sight of _that place_.



335\. Forethought  
It’s really fortunate that Týo had the forethought to bring their personal medical supplies with them when the _Rescue_ stopped in Malibu, because now there are _three_ people in need of medical care, and they’re all… well, Tony’s _family_. It makes him work on the so-very-needed expansions more dilligently, too.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the onset of probably world-ending disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:**  
>  Piece 339: _Heavy Teens:_ Child Abuse, Wrongful Imprisonment

**Hogwarts, Scotland, United Kingdom, 16th-22nd October 2014**

  1. 336\. Thick  
Ýoluti tracked down the baby’s – _Loki’s_ – previous abode… well, _abodes_ , to London, then Scotland. And here they are, perched deep in a thick, dark forest with the feeling of thick, wary power in the air. “This is a good place to stage an investigation,” Týo notes. “Good proximity, at least.”



  1. 337\. Own  
The milaðen conducts the investigation into Loki’s cause of suffering and the people responsible for it under Fié’s supervision, while Fié themself gets constant updates from Anga about the _planet-wide_ country they’re running. Meanwhile, Tony gets busy searching for a plot of land he can totally own, for his _family_.



  1. 338\. Icy  
Well, apparently, nobody _owns_ Antarctica yet. Not many people stay there, too, let alone _live_. Meanwhile, Tony already has a bunker there since his Afghanistan months, _and_ milaðen do _love_ icy climate…. Grinning, he instructs SI’s legal team via JARVIS to negotiate the purchase of _at least_ part of it.



*339. Blank  
“Harry Potter,” living in a _cupboard_ , then a tiny, _prison_ -like room; accused of smuggling a deadly runaway convict into his school through an _elaborate_ ruse; convicted of the crime by _circumstantial_ evidence; thrown into jail _for life_ afterwards…. Tony _and Fié_ are in a blank fury, and nobody stops them.

  1. 340\. Vegetable  
` _We need to depart soon, Aslakonnar,_ ` Týo says mind-to-mind while Tony’s once more wrapped round a spasming Fié, who has collapsed again given the horror story the team of two has unearthed. ` _The vegetable-tender and game-keeper who lives nearby is a… ‘blabbermouth’. He often comes here. We cannot risk exposure._ `



**London, England, United Kingdom, 22nd-30th October 2014**

  1. 341\. Shirt  
It’s unnerving, and somewhat frightening, to see 4 milaðen dressed in a shirt-and-trousers combo _and looking comfy with it_ and, at the same time, to know that they’re _all_ top-of-the-top in Ýmirheim’s commando unit. How many “ordinary people” are in fact milaðen or some other species, mingling with Earth’s population?



  1. 342\. Derivative  
“Earth is young and still insular, derivative, overprotective of its own identity…,” Rústla, the spokesperson of this unit of commandos _and_ spouses, remarks after reading the notes that everyone has previously gathered. “And changes, however beneficial, are not without turmoil.” Tony wants to lob something _very, very foul_ at them….



  1. 343\. Yell  
Hearing Peter yell and/or laugh and – playfully or not – whinge, disturbed from studying his online courses by the three loons that Týo’s brought in yesterday, has quite quickly become a usual thing in Tony’s London townhouse. “Peter studies too much and plays too little,” Týo explains indulgently when Tony asks.



  1. 344\. Tile  
Tony finds out _only now_ that Peter’s mysterious illness months ago actually _changed_ the boy. He’s been drawn in to the rec room by Peter’s giggling, and now he finds the boy hopping about on neon-coloured tiles faster and agiler than a frog. And those tiles are _on the ceiling_.



  1. 345\. Awe  
Hurt’s what Tony feels first. Peter _didn’t_ tell him, after all, but the brat apparently told the milaðen, because Tony never put those tiles up there. But awe’s a close second, and pride that Peter’s done so much with the new ability, and joy that the boy’s _finally_ having fun.



  1. 346\. Lazy  
These days, there’s rarely time to be lazy and just enjoy the moment. Things are moving so fast, so weirdly. This afternoon, though, Tony’s cuddling in the nest with just Fié, Peter and the baby twins, while listening to Pepper’s _positive_ report about clean-up in SI, and he _relishes_ it.



  1. 347\. Market  
“Think we can market this,” Tony mumbles sleepily as Fié soothingly scratches his scalp. “The nest, I mean; new way of sleeping… for families…. Hotel; it’s a hotel; we need a hotel; _hotels_ , like this; for everyone… all.” He wriggles closer to Fié and purrs contently. “Duncha ‘gree, Fi’…? Midge’s…?”



  1. 348\. Which  
“Which would you like to establish first, Mister Stark? The zoo or the hotel?” Pepper looks harrassed, irritated, but Tony swears he _also_ sees amusement flitting past. He bets he looks exhausted _but_ blissfully sleepy and that helps soften her. Seeing that Hammond’s Zoo has just e-mailed him, though…. “Zoo.”



  1. 349\. Physical  
It’s saddening, and disappointing, but also quite understandable, that neither of the kiddified twins of Fié’s tolerate physical contact from anyone but their mum, and sometimes not even them. It’s also an effective periodical reminder for Tony to continue sketching ways to expose the slimy organisations that hurt them _soon_.



  1. 350\. Onset  
It’s the onset of the Apocalypse, to Tony, when he gets a terse message from Chan-Chan saying that she, Voðen and her adoptive twins have been on the run for some time but now _desperately_ need sanctuary, _just as_ Pepper indirectly forwards him Cap’s _paper_ letter about the Sokovia Accord.



  1. 351\. Yield  
According to the Accord, everyone who is not categorised as _fully_ human must _fully_ yield to the _close_ supervision of the United Nations and the local governments, so that the greater public won’t be _in danger_ from them and will know what to _expect_. “We _aren’t_ criminals!” Tony snarls, incensed.



  1. 352\. Chuckle  
“We are ‘aliens’, however,” Rústla points out, chuckling, after listening to Tony’s rant. Huffing and glowering, Tony throws the Starkpad he read the Accord document on at their forehead. His rant continues right off. “I can’t believe it – _Cap’s_ a _modified_ human! And he’s gonna _just_ submit to the Accord?”



**Wales, United Kingdom, 30th October 2014**

  1. 353\. Down  
Tony gets everyone to pack up, back into the _Rescue_. Then he writes a brief, to-the-point _paper_ letter to Cap and mails it from a random location in Wales. There, as factually and neutrally as he can make it, he lists down what’s good and what’s bad about the Accord.



  1. 354\. Vein  
Fury looks like he’s going to burst a vein. Tony, seated at the very back with – hopefully – no visual cues the master-spy can discern, tunes him out until he touches upon the topic of Tony’s “alien puppet master.” Then, it’s _Tony_ who’s bursting a vein. “Nope, baby, they’re my _spouse_.”



  1. 355\. Trouble  
Well, the previous trouble gone, the _new_ trouble setting in. Fury’s now harping about aliens turning earthlings into their species by marriage, or maybe just by having sex. Remembering Fié’s explanation forever ago, Tony snorts. “Fat chance of that. I’m one of a kind. – No no no, no prying, one-eye.”



356\. Bomb  
A bomb went off in Vienna, killing lots of UN officials during a discussion on Sokovia Accord. “Non-human protesters” are blamed for the incident. Tony’s PR team is practically _frantic_ , trying to calm the riots happening offline and online. _And they aren’t enough_. Tony sends the milaðen back to Ýmirheim.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the debut of the Sokovia Accord.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks, I would like to extend my profuse apologies for the lack of updates for 3 days. I was in a 3-day occasion containing long, packed events and bus trips, and I only brought an awkward, finicky tablet computer with me.  
> I would also like to extend my heart-felt thank-yous to those who have commented, followed and liked on this work. I cherish it all, especially since I know that this type of work and contents is not for everyone. (Heck, I'm still adjusting to this, myself.) I hope you will continue to enjoy the ride with all its ups and downs and sidewises! Please do drop by with your thoughts, ideas, complaints etc -- they'd be welcome!  
> That said, happy reading!
> 
>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 362: _Teens:_ Mild Language  
> Piece 366: _Mature:_ Aftermath of Violence, Implied/Referenced Violence  
> Piece 367: _Mature:_ Implied/Referenced Violence, Minor Character Death  
> Piece 369: _Heavy Teens:_ Mad Science, Implied/Referenced Torture  
> Piece 371: _Teens:_ Minor Character Death, Implied/Referenced Violence  
> Piece 372: _Heavy Teens:_ Dehumanisation, Depersonalisation  
> Piece 374: _Heavy Teens:_ Dehumanisation, Depersonalisation, Minor Character Death

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, End of October-December 2014**

  1. 357\. Alien  
Tony returns to New York with just Peter in tow. The boy wishes to be with his aunt and uncle, and Tony can’t – doesn’t want to – deny him such comfort, after such a hard time _that’s still on-going_. He _stringently_ reminds the boy that _they’re both considered aliens now_ , though.



  1. 358\. Keep  
Tony keeps to himself while residing in _his_ tower. Týo joins him after a while, back as a DWB member stationed in the tower. Peter doesn’t continue his education in any school, but even the elder Parkers admit that they like Peter to be near after such a long absence.



  1. 359\. Fascination  
Tony misses Áyshkashla, but doesn’t want any eyes attracted to that town of “androgynous humans.” He satisfies himself by designing efficient and effective farming for cold climates, to be tried on various places _including there_. And people begin to notice his “strange new fascination”….



  1. 360\. Casualty  
As the Sokovia Accord goes into effect, the rate of superhuman crimes skyrockets. And, as Tony _and many, many others_ predict, the first casualties are the innocents, the helpless civilians… who oftentimes parrot the mantras of the Accord, anyway. Well, given that, Tony finds it hard to be sympathetic.



  1. 361\. Double Standard  
The world’s government still approves of SHIELD’s existence, _despite_ the well-known “Avengers” working _for_ them. Then again, government-sanction superhuman operations are part of the Accord…. They’re having _attack dogs_ , and they’re vilifying those dogs at the same time. To Tony, the connotation and the double standard _burn_.



*362. Soldier  
“A soldier follows orders, true,” Tony murmurs heatedly, when he _once more_ refuses to go ‘save the day’ with the Avengers, “but I’m _not_ a soldier, a soldier can disobey wrong orders, and I distinctly _remember_ a certain somebody fuckin’ runnin’ _into_ danger after a fuckin’ _direct order **not** to_.”

  1. 363\. Glowing  
JARVIS’ continued digging on any leads regarding SHIELD’s servers almost literally strikes a gemstone. This tiny, forgetable outpost of a server contains a spark of data that’s encrypted as deeply as the passcodes in Fort Nox. And, among the data, hides an image of a very familiar bluely glowing spear-rod.



  1. 364\. Foundation  
While waiting for JARVIS to dig more info about the glowy spear-thing, Tony sets up an agricultural tech company and, like NaturAls the hygiene-based one, links it with Maria Stark Foundation for an easier and better flow of donated products. As a bonus, his PR team capitalises on this work.



  1. 365\. Tower  
Thor harps on Tony’s reluctance to go heroing. Tony raises an eyebrow, but continues to chew his berries in silence. Well, that is, until Thor tries to grab his forearm. Growling deep in his throat, he snarls, “This is _my_ tower, Pointbreak. Stop harassing me or I’ll throw you out.”



*366. Wet  
Peter comes stumbling, wailing, babbling into the tower’s lobby, one afternoon. He glomps Tony before Tony can assess his health and situation. But, it seems, there’s no need for that, since the tang of human blood immediately fills the air, and Tony’s front immediately feels wet _and sticky_. “What happened?”

*367. Mind  
The elder Parkers are _dead_ , from a _superhuman_ robbery that Peter couldn’t fight against. And Tony _wasn’t there to help_. Hell, he didn’t even think to assign the boy a guard detail! And then his mind chooses to remember that Chan-Chan and Voðen were _already on the run_ , last time.

**The Triskelion, Washington DC, United States, Early January 2015**

  1. 368\. Platform  
JARVIS ransacks SHIELD’s whole intranet platform when Tony – for once – tags along after Fury’s pet Avengers to a briefing. There, after the briefing, remembering the milaðen’s teachings, he sneaks away using layered magicworks, getting an actual reading on the Triskelion through unguarded chatter and places unreached by security cameras.



*369. Queasy  
There’s a _living body_ encased in high-tech ice-coffin in the deepest, most isolated, most unassuming corner far under the Triskelion. There are also detailed documents and… _mad-sciency torture devises_ regarding the body, in a filing cabinet in the same hall. ` _Loptr wasn’t the first, then._ ` Tony feels so, so queasy.

  1. 370\. Hand  
Tony’s hands tremble mightily, and his fingers keep sliding away from the aimed-for spots on his phone’s screen, but he stubbornly continues to text Týo: “ **I need you and your insane spouses here. Come here quick, light, disguised THOROUGHLY. Be ready to poof away many things all at once.** ”



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, January-March 2015**

*371. Dither  
“Shall we thaw him out, Aslakonnar?” Rústla asks, for once seriously, when the cargo, the extraction team and Tony himself have been deposited in Tony’s semi-secret living space under the penthouse. Tony dithers, as he watches wide-eyed at one of the videos where his parents “ _died_ ” in that “ _car accident_.”

*372. Sentience  
“Having sentience means having dreams, wishes and preferences, Aslakonnar,” Neuolvir, the quietest of the group of four teammates and spouses, murmurs when Tony, devastated, looks between the television screen and the ice-coffin laid half behind him. “This person, they are no longer sentient. Other sentients carved it out of them.”

  1. 373\. Conviction  
“You’ve got the talent to be quite creepy, duncha know that, buddy?” Tony manages shakily after a long, tense, awkward pause. The unlooked-for statement doesn’t only creep him out, though; it also, somehow, boulster his conviction to _let the frozen guy free_ , in the bestest senses of the word.



*374. Towel  
Having a nude guy with a metal arm blankly obeying his every whim somehow feels as horrifying as watching his parents get murdered by the guy, Tony finds. In the end, lacking anything handy, he gets the guy to wear a towel from one of the bathrooms and… just… stop.

375\. Knife  
Tony asks the guy to teach him knife-fighting, on Neuolvir’s advice, which amounts to: “Won’t bite you in the arse later _when_ the guy’s truly back on if you ask him to teach you, rather than obey your commands.” It doesn’t hurt that he got a new skill from this.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and family protection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for **Brievel** for alerting me that chapters 16 and 17 are practically the same! I didn't know that…. It's fixed, though, now.
> 
>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 376: _Explicit:_ Discussion of Sexual Practises, Semi-Graphic Sexual Content  
> Piece 377: _Mature:_ Semi-Graphic Sexual Content  
> Piece 403: _Mature:_ Past Violence, Traumatic Family Member Death  
> Piece 408: _Teens:_ Dark Musing  
> Piece 410: _Teens:_ Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)  
> Piece 413: _Heavy Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Violence  
> Piece 416: _Teens:_ Mild Language

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, January-March 2015 (Ctd.)**

**376. Oral  
Milaðen apparently don’t believe in much deviation from “normal” sexual intercourse, for whatever reason. Tony didn’t bother with this before, too focused on just _feeling_ things in whatever time he got with Fié. But now, after so much and so long, he indulges in a lazy treat of oral delights.

**377. Cloud  
Fié turns out to be a quick learner and a decent partner. Tony babbles this out, fervently, repeatedly, intersperced with other noises, as they _enthusiastically **and** repeatedly_ return the favour to him. He’s in the clouds and he doesn’t want to come back. ` _Why didn’t I try this before?_ `

  1. 378\. Jump  
Having things jump from utter bliss to dense tension is really, really, really jarring, Tony finds. He’s giving Fié a proper tour of the whole tower, and the duo intersect ways with Agent Wannabe Robinhood, who snarkily says, “Whoa. Never guessed you’d fall for a fatty sack of meat, Stark.”



  1. 379\. Robe  
Things got worse when, before Tony can say or do anything against the insult – ` _fié’s **pregnant** , not **fat** , and there’s nothing wrong with being fat anyway!_` – a group of robed people suddenly materialise amidst them _with a deafening crack_ and _start to shoot unknown spells all round_.



  1. 380\. Earthenware  
One of his knives being turned into an earthenware pot clues Tony in to whom they’re facing, and that only makes him _madder_. The instant hostility just clinches it. But he’s not alone being mad at _and can fight_ the intrusion, so, in short, the magic- _dis_ using bastards are fully incapacitated.



  1. 381\. Pool  
“Why can’t I join? It’s big!” Agent Wannabe Robinhood whines from the edge of the pool, and Tony answers by sending a huge wave towards him, from the other side of the pool. Meanwhile, down in the middle and pretty much _under_ , Fié’s lazily swimming about, trying to calm down.



  1. 382\. Board  
Tony’s on board with Hammond about making an island a safari park. He’s rather leery about _resurrecting dinosaurs_ to populate it, however. “ **I think they’re extinct for a reason,** ” he writes. “ **We’ve got enough world-wide problems already. No need adding loose dinosaurs eating people to the list.** ”



  1. 383\. Tenant  
“You’re the whiniest, nosiest freeriding tenant here, y’know that?” Tony snaps at last, when, after the cooling-down session at the pool, Agent Wannabe Robinhood insists to tag along to where Týo’s team has been interrogating the magical intruders. “Back off, or I’ll get the team to interrogate you, _too_.”



  1. 384\. Leave  
Tony’s glad when the whiny tagalong simply leaves. He’s _far_ from glad, though, when the said tagalong _returns_ , with a game-faced Agent Pretender in tow. “I simply wish to help,” she says levelly when Tony snarls at her. “Let it be not said that _I_ am a whiny, freeriding tenant.”



  1. 385\. Hard  
When Agent Wannabe Robinhood lets out a startled, loud, betrayed, “Whaaat?!,” Tony falls apart, laughing hard, with not a little tinge of hysteria in it. Who knows Agent Cold-hearted Bitch could _joke_? His eyes are hard, though, when he makes her _and Barton_ promise not to reveal _anything_ to _anybody_.



  1. 386\. Delicious  
The info doesn’t so much trickle as _pouring out_ from the interrogation when Tony and his little entourage arrive at the unused floor he hastily set aside for it. And it turns out that the attackers were British magicals, there to bring Tony in for questioning. What a _delicious_ irony.



  1. 387\. West  
“ **West** ” is what Chan-Chan simply texts, just as Tony’s ushering his tagalong out of the interrogation-and-holding floor, back to the common hall. He stops dead mid-step. For the first time after that on-the-run text forever ago, he’s getting news from the elder twins. And then, ` _West. They’re **here**. West._`



  1. 388\. Glossy  
Tall buildings stand on the west of Stark Tower, and everywhere else, too. But these tall buildings hide small streets and alleys between them, and Tony’s roamed many of them during his nightly jaunts, though not recently. Now he’s treading the familiar paths, with absently reading glossy magazines as cover.



  1. 389\. Rumour  
Rumours are flying. About tall winter ghosts with sharp, glowing blue eyes, and the little black-eyed ghosts that follow close behind. About foodstuffs and drinks vanishing from supposedly secure places, to be replaced with heartfelt sorries and thank-yous – and, when the amount taken is more than the usual, some trinkets.



  1. 390\. Hoarse  
Tony catches up to the “ghosts” after three days of tireless roaming, _east_ of his tower. All… _six_?… of them are skin-and-bones, filthy, smelly, and skittish as hell. He flinches, heart clenching and plummeting, when one of the two Voðen-like twins – Chan-Chan? Or the real Voðen? – says hoarsely, “You come.”



  1. 391\. Point  
The point of a dagger presses against Tony’s heart when he comes nearer, held up by the other twin. It means an awkward reach-up that he can easily disarm by now, but he knows the twin’s saying differently by this move. His mouth is desert-dry. “Failed you, didn’t I?”



  1. 392\. Vote  
“Let me make it up to you? Go home with me?” There’s more that Tony _would_ say but can’t. Breathlessly, he watches as the dagger-holding twin flicks a glance at the speaking one, who in turn stares at the tagalongs one by one. ` _They’re making a vote out of this!_ `



  1. 393\. Layout  
JARVIS suggests that Tony give the twins a _virtual_ tour of the tower instead of the physical one, once they’ve agreed. Wincing, Tony remembers the many _nosy_ people currently there. Well, now they can avoid those, right? _And_ he can give them a much more in-depth explanation of the layout.



  1. 394\. Drop  
Tony goes to Ýmirheim nightly instead of risking Fié dropping by unannounced and encountering Voðen. Fié’s already pestering him about why he booted them out so summarily that time, as it is. It’s hard, still, having seven living secrets to keep away… and then somebody almost literally drops on him.



  1. 395\. Exact  
Tony gives the newcomer exact details on how he’ll make them suffer, the newcomer replies likewise… and they’re off to a good start, especially after the said newcomer confesses to haunting the twins’ party to protect them, and spreading the rumours to attract Tony’s attention in the first place.



  1. 396\. Companion  
Agent Pretender blanches outright when Sasha the newcomer strolls openly into the commons’ kitchen, smiles blandly at her and says in Russian, “Hello, Natalia. I hope you and Laura are doing fine. I am glad that some of my old companions have also… crossed over, so to say.”



  1. 397\. Picture  
Sasha’s story paints a bleak picture, once Tony gets them under the grindstone of Týo’s interrogation team. Worse, Neuolvir – _who’s a bred-and-trained assassin who’s **once** tasked to eliminate **all** of Fié’s bloodline from the universe_ – _assures_ him that Sasha cannot lie in their presence… because Sasha’s _part of Fié’s bloodline_.



  1. 398\. Shopping  
“So… you’re practically family?” Tony’s really, really tired with all the weird, shocking, life-changing – _speechlessness-inducing_ – things, including how to respond to an unexpected, _inherited_ expansion to his previously _nonexistent_ family circles. It doesn’t help that then Sasha hands him a shopping list of defence materials instead of… luxurious makeup, maybe?



  1. 399\. Template  
HYDRA’s _still alive_ , Sasha said, and they’ve _cloned_ “the Winter Soldier,” not only in look and strength but also training and… _everything_. It makes Tony think of the clone template lurking in the tower’s 99th floor, perhaps busy making a smoothie instead of a bomb, and he swallows back bile.



  1. 400\. Jealous  
“Whom do you bar me from meeting each time?” Fié glares. “You’re so rarely here, Tony,” Peter sighs. “You need to spend more time with _your_ employees, Mister Stark,” Pepper huffs. “When can you practise with us, Mister Stark?” Cap whines. And Tony’s _overwhelmed_. They’re jealous, _competing_ about his _attention_?!



  1. 401\. On Top  
Tony’s so _not_ on top of the game today. First, Anga pestered him _endlessly_ about Voðen out of the blue. Second, Voðen themself’s having a setback after… their _child_? _Sleipnir_?!… had a nightmare about their… “captivity” as a horse, and Tony could only gape to that. And now, he finds….



  1. 402\. Blade  
There’s a blade digging into the side of Tony’s neck, but thankfully it’s just the yet-unnamed guy, formerly codenamed “Winter Soldier by HYDRA, who’s just snuck behind him as he’s visiting the guy’s laire. “Cut the shit, buddy,” he sighs. “Not in the mood to play. Y’got some leftover cake?”



*403. Establish  
Voðen and Chan-Chan were _bloodily_ driven out of Chan-Chan’s home, months ago, and Tony manages to establish _the chronology_ only now, after weeks of careful prying. Chan-Chan _and her sole surviving little sibling_ are a mess, presently, after Tony confirmed it. He feels rotten. And so, so much a failure.

  1. 404\. Coarse  
Agent Legolas has a very, very coarse humour, coarser than even Tony’s. But Tony can appreciate the archer’s blatant offer to Chan-Chan and her little brother to go hunting the culprits of their whole family’s deaths for them. And then Agent Pretender offers herself, _as well_ , clinching the self-made mission.



  1. 405\. Swimming  
Tony proposes a swimming session to the overwrought Chan-Chan and co, remembering how it helped Fié. He forgot, though, that _Fié’s_ usually the only swimmer in that pool, the twins come as a package, and milaðen are _very_ sensitive about who’s previously occupying a given – stagnant(ish) – body of water….



  1. 406\. Lean  
Voðen leaps out of the water upon touching it, and frantically drags their twin to dry tiles, as if there’s a hungry shark out for their flesh in the pool, or the water’s actually a very strong acid. Sasha, ever hovering, leans over Tony and inquires, ` _Who rules the water?_ `



  1. 407\. Purée  
In the end, and avoiding Sasha’s question for the sake of the extended family’s privacy, Tony gets the twins to purée whatever they want for later consumption. He figures that mashing things out on a board or through numerous tiny holes before devouring them ccan be pretty cathartic.



*408. Assassin  
Tony’s… bemused, and admittedly somewhat amused. – HYDRA’s top assassin. Cooking and baking. Using the various purées that a bunch of broken children made. No doubt imagining the crushing and devouring of their enemies while doing so. And it _worked_ as a _cathartic_ agent. ` _Huh. The world’s gone upside-down and inside-out…._ `

  1. 409\. People  
Dealing with _people_ in their new lease of life is an on-going issue for the eldest twins, whom Tony’s come to call Vovo when addressing both. It doesn’t help that the little twins Nathaniel-Natalia, “Nana,” Chan-Chan’s adopted children, look to them for cues… and vice versa. It’s a vicious circle.



*410. Desert  
Tony wakes up with the sight, smell, feel and taste of the desert clinging to him. Desperately, he runs to the pool and, ironically for once after Afghanistan, _submerges_ himself in it. But then again, here, now, he can _feel_ Fié’s presence lingering, and the brief touches of Vovo. ` _Family._ `

  1. 411\. Plan  
Agents Legolas and Pretender are gone, sniffing out things. Left behind, Cap’s moping in his floor and the gym. Bruce, Happy and Pepper are busy with their own families. Tony’s left with his own family, _and he has not even a sketch of a plan to do anything yet_.



  1. 412\. Twin  
“Meet the long-lost and extended family,” on hindsight, isn’t a good idea when one party is filled with broken members and the other is filled with tensely expectant ones. Fié verbally lays into Voðen once they clap eyes on one another, and, in defence of her twin, Chan-Chan fights back.



*413. Root Out  
The two agents-on-mission have rooted out the info they wanted, based on Tony’s access to various servers and their own networks. Tony’s Loptr-rescuing mission hasn’t gone unnoticed, apparently. HYDRA – _which has infiltrated SHIELD right from the start_ – took their revenge by _killing off those seen as closest to him_.

  1. 414\. Goal  
Peter’s trying everything to cheer him up, Tony knows, and the boy – still grieving his relatives – even manages to snag the combative Fié and Chan-Chan into the effort. It’s an admirable goal. Sadly, it only reminds Tony that some very sick bastards are getting at him _through his family_.



  1. 415\. News  
Hammond’s e-mail’s an _un_ welcome news on top of the mission’s results. Apparently, that grandpa’s company’s _interpreting_ Tony’s “natural preserve and safari park for endangered animals” requirement as _permission_ to _clone dinosaurs_. And Hammond wants Tony to bring his family for a “sneak-peek visit” to _an island full of humongous toothies_.



*416. Concession  
Tony’s heart falls when, for the first time ever since he helped retrieve them from Asgard, Voðen expresses a _wish_ , by _themself_ , for _their own sake_ , to _visit the dinosaur island_. It doesn’t help that Peter _also_ wants to go there. He’s got to make a _concession_ to _Hammond_. ` _Fuck._ `


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and preparations to go Jurassic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:** None

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, January-March 2015 (Ctd. 3)**

417\. Expand  
Driven to make the visit as safe as possible for his family, Tony buys 30% of InGen with his own money, supplementing SI’s contribution, and begins his “terror campaign” – investigation, adjustments, evaluation – on everything it has. Many critique him – billionaire new _alien_ – for “expanding his _empire_ ,” but he _doesn’t care_.

  1. 418\. Belonging  
Until just now, Tony didn’t know that Chan-Chan and her little family’s belongings can be gathered in just _one_ backpack. He didn’t know either that they’ve been _living from that backpack_. There’s no sense of belonging to the tower, to the floor he’s set aside for them, and it _hurts_.



  1. 419\. Uncover  
Tony, by the _self_ -help of Agents Legolas and Pretender, uncovers many, many, _many_ suspicious, maladjusted, and just _wrong_ things in the ranks and plans of Hammond’s company, InGen, especially in the island-park Hammond’s inviting _his family_ to. Simply said, if it’s SI, he’d go bankrupt from _at least_ work-accident-related lawsuits.



  1. 420\. Game  
“You’re kind, and enthusiastic, and beardy like a santa, I got it, but life _isn’t_ a game and we can’t restart it once it’s game-over, Hammond.” ` _Except through reincarnation, which **doesn’t count**._` “In that park’s previous configuration, my family would be _trapped_ there. It wouldn’t be a vacation _at all_.”



  1. 421\. Evaluate  
“Get _experts_ to evaluate the park _before_ we come and no more _interpretations_ on it,” is Tony’s requirement to still bring his family to Hammond’s insane park after all that’s been uncovered. “And the experts must be countersigned by me, you, SI’s CEO and other shareholders before they’re brought in.”



  1. 422\. Travel  
Tony doesn’t want to let the world know about the _Rescue_ yet, but he no longer feels comfortable riding in an ordinary, _flimsy_ jet, especially when travelling to a _dinosaur-populated_ island. So he modifies a quinjet with features and materials similar to the _Rescue_ and loads it with just-in-case things.



  1. 423\. Provision  
Getting provisions for the “holiday” is an… interesting experience. Families stock up on fastfood, snacks, toys, games and moment-immortalising devises for a holiday, from what Tony’s heard. But _his_ stock up on weapons, ammo, medicines, medical things, getaway plans, call-for-help set-ups, and emergency rations. He prefers this version. It’s _realistic_.



  1. 424\. Test  
Tony tests the modifications to the quinjet himself. He tests for bugs – of all senses of the word – _too_ , and installs more just-in-cases that only he and JARVIS know about. He’s even improved JARVIS’ capacity and capabilities for handling such. And then, he gets Týo’s team to test it, _thoroughly_.



  1. 425\. Year  
“We usually measure life in centuries, Afa, or decades, years, not _days_ ,” Fié sighs tiredly, as they and Tony are watching supplies being loaded into their transport. Tony quirks a smile, amused. “Well, accept it, buddy. I’m _still_ a human in all that counts, and humans measure things in _seconds_.”



  1. 426\. Luggage  
It’s a shock to Tony when Pepper, Happy, Kalahar and _Rhodey_ suddenly appear on the launch-pad on the roof of the tower, _with their own luggage_. Pepper looks wryly at him, for that. “I am SI’s _CEO_ , Mister Stark, and I’ll be there to assess SI’s asset,” she says dryly.



  1. 427\. Order  
“Kientar ordered me to guard you; you ordered me to guard Miss Potts; then Miss Potts ordered me and Mister Hogan to guard her _and you_ ,” Kalahar says when Tony eyes him. Rhodey’s explanation’s even more succinct, but _much_ more problematic: “Representative of US military, one of InGen’s bigger shareholders.”



  1. 428\. Preparation  
Tony purses his lips, caught between anger, annoyance and worry. The worry wins, for now. He’s once _best friends_ with Rhodey, after all. All his preparations for this trip _didn’t_ include _this_ contingency – that _other people_ will hitch a ride. “We delay,” he decides, finally. “Stock up for just-in-case, people.”



429\. Surplus  
“But… you’ve got a surplus of _everything_ already here, Tones! Why’d you want _more_? Where can we fit _everything_ , too? Your jet’s not that _big_!” Rhodey squawks after reading half of Tony’s logistics list. “N’this is a _submachine gun_! You going in a _war campaign_ or an island inspection, Tones?”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the full Jurassic experience, inspection mode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 431: _Teens:_ Mild Language  
> Piece 441: _Teens:_ Parental Quarreling

**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, 2nd April 2015**

  1. 430\. Dead Zone  
Fié’s getting antsy the closer they are to their destination, but Tony bets it’s not because of cabin fever. Because he feels it, _too_ : a creeping emptiness in the air, which both hems him in and tries to suck something out of him. Then, “A dead zone,” Týo explains grimly.



*431. Little  
The horrible sensation is compounded when, on the launch-pad atop the island’s hotel, the first people who rush out to greet the contingent are 2 **_unsupervised_** _little children_. The midgets are then followed by _an unarmed, unwary teen_ , and _nobody else_. “What the _fuck_?!” Tony snarls. “This a _kill_ -zone too?”

  1. 432\. Question  
Pepper’s the only one to come out, _just on the ramp_ , shadowed by ready guns hidden round the door, to question the midgets. Her modified Starkwatch acts as extra-sensitive mike for the plane’s passengers to listen to what they’re saying. And what’s heard’s almost just as disheartening as what’s expected….



  1. 433\. Serve  
The people who serve as the soon-to-be park’s employees are _all_ in a meeting with Hammond, a few floors down, and Hammon trusts _drones_ to serve as eyes and ears round the park. Tony _loves_ tech, he does, but he _knows_ that today’s tech can’t serve this purpose optimally _yet_.



  1. 434\. Wordy  
Hammond has _lots_ of explanation of why there’s not even a skeleton crew round the island to man outposts, why the experts _aren’t there yet_ , why children are left unsupervised in a potentially hostile land. Tony can be just as wordy, usually, but today he’s _really_ not in the mood.



  1. 435\. Royalty  
“Whoa, you’re so _regal_ ,” Lex Murphy, one of the island’s midgets, remarks admiringly when Fié flows down the ramp at last, blatantly escorted – _with ready weapons_ – by Týo’s team and Tony. “You could star as royalty in a movie!” – It’s the first piece of amusement Tony has since _before_ landing.



  1. 436\. Costume  
“No costume,” Tim, apparently Lex’s little brother, comments thoughtfully, critically, after her outburst. “She looks more like a mom or a teacher than a queen to me, anyway, like Miss Priggen. You’re a dolt, Lexy.” And, hearing that, Tony valiantly attempts to stifle his ironic mirth. ` _What a bold champ!_ `



  1. 437\. Extinct  
From Tony’s on-site interrogation of Hammond, he _finally_ finds that InGen’s lawyers apparently interpreted “endangered animals” as somehow synonymous to “ _extinct_ animals” because, by the time of the proposal and contract for the zoo, they _already_ had a handful of _live_ dinosaurs, enough to be considered in the “endangered” category.



**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, 3rd April 2015**

  1. 438\. Chaos  
It’s even more upsetting to Tony that, when the “experts” _at last_ arrive, the chaos-theory mathematician that he approved of on paper, with the assumption that the man would help design the changes to the park, turns out to be _wholely ignorant of the park until now_. ` _It’s a **disaster**!_`



  1. 439\. Sieve  
Tony’s patience and tolerance are running out nearly as fast as his senses and vitality do, stewed too long in this place. Worse, his attempts to wrestle things back in line, both for himself and the park, feels like trying to catch running water with a sieve.



  1. 440\. Clash  
With how Santa-ish Hammond looks and behaves, Tony’s surprised – and frustrated, and disheartened – that they seem to clash with each other at nearly every turn. It’s bad for the morale of the employees, too, or so Fié claims, and Tony does try very, very hard to tamp himself down, but….



**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, 4th April 2015**

*441. Syndrome  
It’s a syndrome of powerful people that they feel entitled to have things their way, Happy comments when, in the morning of the second day they’re there, Fié actively tries to rein in Tony and ends up quarelling with him _too_. Then he points at how the family’s scattered.

  1. 442\. End  
The quarrel ends, just so. Both combatants dazedly look round, noticing the empty penthouse the family stays in. Happy raises an eyebrow when Tony gives him a stunned stare, then continues, “The kids are going about with the experts. The team’s with them. Me and Sasha got the short straw.”



  1. 443\. Judge  
“Hammond, sorry, for judging you, sometimes. Let’s start over?” Tony’s really _not good_ in apologising. His pride usually doesn’t allow him, too. But he _must_ reconcile with Hammond, or his family will continue fleeing him, and he finds he _hates_ it. This was supposed to be a _family_ sort-of holiday!



  1. 444\. Fury  
Fury is _furious_. Apparently, even though there’s no avenging to do, he wants _everyone_ back in New York where he can eyeball them to his heart’s content. “We’re on vacation,” Tony shrugs. “Deal with it, one-eye. And on that note, go clean house. I guess your agents sent the info?”



  1. 445\. Soar  
Tony’s heart is in his throat. Hammond, standing beside him, squeaks. There’s a blur soaring up high in the flying dinos’ enclosure, _riding one of the dinos_. To think that he’s been harping about the park’s safety to Hammond! _His own family’s **breaking** it themselves_!



  1. 446\. Crumble  
It’s… _Voðen_. Go figure. Frightened of sentient beings, but so bold with _dinos_. Tony’s _floored_. He doesn’t want to crumble their newfound confidence and joy, but… but…. “Fié! Go deal with your niece!” Last resort. Which may result in _more_ problems down the way. But Tony’s _really_ stumped!



  1. 447\. Missile  
Tony really, really doesn’t know what to do when he looks to his side and doesn’t find Fié there. The milaða is instead far, far away, with a couple of ground missiles that’s the Murphy children streaking out to meet them. “Oh, damn, hell, I’m not made for this!”



  1. 448\. Dessert  
“No dessert till we get back” is the only thing Tony can come up for an _un_ -confidence-crumbling punishment for the scare. It’s _too_ light, he thinks, but doesn’t know what _else_ to do. Voðen seems to think so… until evening comes and Rústla brings out an apparently favourite Ýmirheimi dish.



  1. 449\. Effort  
It’s startling, and _amazing_ , how much effort Voðen’s willing to exert _for the sake of a dessert_. It’s a hillarious spectacle for everyone at the table, and it takes all that Tony has not to crumble against the puppy-dog eyes, the bribes, the exchange offer…. Worse, Fié’s laughing _at him_.



  1. 450\. Cliché  
“Oooooh, you’re a queen, Nalla? But where’s your crown? Where’s your gown? Do you have a sceptor? Is it magical? So _cool_!” Tim Murphy runs round and round Fié, grinning, eyes sparkling. And, from Fié’s other side, leaning comfily against them, Lex boos at him. “That’s so cliché, dork.”



  1. 451\. In Unison  
Robert Muldoon, the park’s head game keeper, said that the veloceraptors are the smartest, fiercest, cruellest and most lethal dinos cloned there. And now Voðen’s intent on _visiting **and playing** with them_. Tony and Fié flinch in unison, before looking wide-eyed at each other. ` _Hell, **no**. This time’s **yours** , buddy._`



  1. 452\. Enter  
“Are you sure?” Muldoon clenches the barrel of his rifle as if to break it. Well, Tony’s _not_ sure, but _nobody_ has a defence _yet_ against a _suddenly_ determined Voðen. And now, they’re _all_ watching wide-eyed as Voðen enters the veloceraptor pen, armed only with Tony’s malleable body armour.



  1. 453\. Sport  
Voðen treats _actively_ dealing with highly dangerous animals as joyful sport, Tony determines, as the aforementioned brat ducks and dodges and weaves and vaults over and circles _and fleetingly tap_ the large, malformed scaly bird-like things below in the enclosure, all with a bright, beaming smile on their glowing face.



  1. 454\. Consider  
“We’re outta job, Muldoon,” Owen Grady – the forever-ago tiebreaker-needing thesis writer on dolphin training, the recent expert animal behaviourist hire for the park – whistles disbelievingly as he considers the gladiatorial spectacle below. But Tony has a different thought. ` _Why doesn’t Voðen put this joyful abandon to dealing with **people**?_`



455\. Approve Of  
“Well, if Miss Votten wants to be here, then she should consider herself hired,” Hammond blurts out when, down below, after however long Tony doesn’t know, “Miss Votten” somehow gets the ancient turkeys to play with them _as a friend_ instead of dinner. And then they get their twin in….


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and lessons in being a family man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnin for:** None

**San Jose, Costa Rica, 5th April 2015**

  1. 456\. Overflow  
Fié takes Hammond’s declaration as a sign for the family to skedaddle. They borrow Hammond’s boat, though, for the ride back to mainland Costa Rica, because Týo – the healer and milaða expert on living on Earth – says that the overflow of senses and power may overwhelm the milaðen, especially Fié.



  1. 457\. If  
“Would… any effect… if… we out early?” Tony grits his teeth as wave after wave of _something_ bombard him, scald him, drown him, about half-way down their boat-trip. Fié, again clasped in his arms and legs, just whimper, whine, moan, cry in response, as their heavily pregnant body spasms uncontrollably.



  1. 458\. Steady  
Tony’d never think that a steady flow of _magic_ would be a comfort to his body, mind and soul. ` _Well, maybe, I’m not **that** human anymore._` But it’s hard to rue that, when he’s pressed right up against his sleeping, thankfully _still_ heavily pregnant… beau? Spouse? _Inherited_ spouse? ` _Well, whatever._ `



**San Jose, Costa Rica, 6th April 2015**

  1. 459\. Suggestion  
The twins Lasla-Lafta – otherwise Lala – are the grumpiest of all, when the family meet up for breakfast after spending the night in separate hotel rooms. “It’d make road trips hard, aside from the specs of the transport,” Bruce notes, amused. And then he makes a reasonable-sounding suggestion….



  1. 460\. Approximate  
Tony asks his personal finance manager for an approximate value of his personal liquid cash, then begins planning, following Bruce’s half-joking, half-sympathetic suggestion of starting a milaða-friendly hotel chain. It’s another charity work, he thinks, because it _must_ be a family-oriented hotel, given the milaðen’s values, but, well, why not?



  1. 461\. Tight  
Money’ll be tight until the hotel _and_ farm-tech companies are completely off the ground, the financial manager warns. Tony flickers his gaze away from the vid-conference-displaying screen for a moment, spying Lex and Tim Murphy yet again listening to the _babies_ in Fié’s belly, nods, and shrugs off the warning.



**San Jose, Costa Rica, 7th April 2015**

  1. 462\. Orbit  
“Can we go to the beach, Mister Stark?” “Can we go to the game centre, Mister Stark?” “Would you help me choose some things to give our parents, Mister Stark?” Lex and Tim, who usually orbit Fié, switch to tagging after Tony, somehow, when Fié must return to Ýmirheim. ` _Weird._ `



  1. 463\. Way  
` _I’ve come a long way, and not just physically,_ ` Tony reflects while herding _all_ the younglings entrusted to his care, with just the help of Happy, Pepper, Rústla and Ovrekka (Týo’s mate that he knows the least), to the game centre after lunch. ` _Never thought I’d be a duckling herder…._ `



  1. 464\. Strong  
Twin names are complementary to each other, Tony learns during a family’ downtime, after spying the 4 pairs of twins clumped together on a corner of the lounge and asking Rústla about it. E.g. one of the iterations of Vovo’s names is Strong Enough, with Voðen getting the “Enough” part.



  1. 465\. Normal  
Some fellow guests who are also occupying the lounge look curious or even mesmerised by the sight of four pairs of twins lolling about, complementing each other subconsciously. The scene’s just normal, for Tony, so he doesn’t pay them any attention… until they’re about to photograph it. “No pics, please.”



**San Jose, Costa Rica, 8th-20th April 2015**

  1. 466\. Every  
Tony flies to the island park everyday to check on things, mostly alone. He’s with the whole family – and family friends – every evening, and with Fié nightly. And, ruefully, he’s beginning to catch on to the fact that Fié’s slowly but surely _domesticating him_ since first they met forever ago.



**Malibu, California, United States, 21st April-31st May 2015**

  1. 467\. Idol  
Alien or not, Fié’s a _huge idol_ to the new midgets. Lex and Tim Murphy, also Jessie Harding their older friend, even go as far as moving in with Tony for school and socialisation times, to get better access to them. “Huh, how did I get to running a homeschooling?”



  1. 468\. Amazed  
“You’ve got a cool dad, Pete,” Tony overhears Tim, amazed, exclaiming over the complicated jungle gym and obstacle combo sprawling on one part of the beach. He stumbles on his own feet when he hears Peter answer, half-seriously, “According to Abý, Tony’s my amma, my mom. Well, s’okay, I guess.”



  1. 469\. Symptom  
` _Can you hero-worship a family member?_ ` Tony thinks dazedly when Tim outright approaches him and asks him to be his and Lex’s _second set of parents_ alongside Fié. All the symptoms of hero-worship are there – glittering eyes, beaming smile, excited tone – but… _parents_ …? “Well, ask your parents first, buddy.”



  1. 470\. Cover  
The Sokovia Accord’s _heavily modified_ , after the crime rates in the world’s big cities have climbed too far to be handled even by the local _and international_ military. Hearing the news, Tony shakes his head. “They’re just ordering us _more softly_ to be their attack dogs. It’s just a cover.”



  1. 471\. Effect  
“For one who advertises peace, you seem to be intent on fighting, Cap,” Tony drawls when Cap’s harping about his _non_ -contribution in the Avengers again, when the _good_ effects of the lightened restrictions slowly manifest. The other smiles… kind of cutely… and barks, “What about your weapons dealing history, Stark?”



  1. 472\. Wary  
Tim’s so very wary when approaching Tony for a review on the boy’s drawing assignment for school, after almost literally stumbling into the sniping exchange between… well, the adults who should’ve known better, as Pepper pointed out when she broke up the argument. And Tony _doesn’t like it_. “Sorry, Tim.”



  1. 473\. Blanket  
“You should make blankets for your children, Afa. It is tradition,” Fié suddenly says, faux-casually, one evening as they’re yet again sewing and adding to a pair of such: huge enough for a full-grown milaða but foldable for easy carriage and use by a much smaller one, durable and comfy.



  1. 474\. Fruit  
Under Fié’s guidance, somewhat reluctantly and dubiously, Tony creates the requested blankets with his own hands, as per tradition. He learns sewing for that, but has no patience for more. He finds a new passion for decorating, still, as he adds various fruits that each “child” likes on each blanket.



  1. 475\. Quake  
Tony adds an exciting feature to the athletic playground set on the beach in the expansion, requested by the midgets: a quake-pad set beneath the whole thing. He laughs when he activates it and the said midgets, playing as usual, unaware of the addition, shriek in mixed alarm and glee.



  1. 476\. Crash  
It’s not amusing anymore, though, when the bots join the fray, trying to imitate the more versatile fleshies. Tony’s forced to deactivate the quake-pad, because the bots keep crashing and damaging themselves, unable to hold on to the shaking bars. “Come away!” he calls. “Will sort you out later! Promise!”



  1. 477\. New  
“N’I thought I’d seen everything that’s new on earth when I saw the dinos,” Rhodey remarks, with a heavy tinge of awe that Tony’s wary of, when he suddenly drops by while Tony’s testing the bots' new, athletic-playground-related modifications. ` _Damn, J, you should’ve warned us! Now he’ll tell the military!_ `



**Áyshkashla, Northern Alaska, United States, Beginning-Middle of June 2015**

478\. Just  
Tony skedaddles to Áyshkashla with his family after Rhodey said that a military guy will come visit. Sadly, with the pregnancy entering its last month, Fié can’t risk visiting him even there. It sucks, all in all, despite the venue. ` _Damn you, Rhodes. Why can’t you just let things be?_ `


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony stark and his sojourn as the responsible guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning for:**   
>  Piece 480: _Explicit:_ Alien Childbirth

**Ýmirheim, Middle of June-July 2015**

  1. 479\. Pale  
Within a fortnight, Tony can’t stand being with Fié only nightly, when the latter’s gone progressively weaker, paler by each visit. He sends the Murphys and Jessie home (` _Temporarily!_ `), entrusts his companies to Pepper, and parks himself by a by-now pale-blue, round-bellied Fié’s side with the rest of the midgets.



**480. Rancid  
There are _supposedly_ 10 days remaining, but Fié’s _going into labour_. Fear’s rancid in Tony’s mouth. They’re thrashing and moaning in the birthing pool, now, mostly face-down. Then they suddenly face sidewise and lock eyes with him, before the still, clear water turns blue and their navel widens, disgorging… something.

  1. 481\. Blasé  
“Giving birth is not at all painful; euphoric, in fact. However, Ðolukonnar’s previous experience has been traumatic, and, during this pregnancy, their energy has been spent trying to keep the babies safe,” the healer expounds on why Fié’s unconscious, minutes after naming their children. ` _They’re so blasé about this!_ `



  1. 482\. Repair  
“Repair your previous relationship with Ýmirheim, _Farbauti_ ,” Anga said pointedly. So now here Tony is: seated in Fié’s place in the audience chamber, receiving guests – _supplicants, petitioners_ – in Fié’s stead… and being rained on by negative vibes, words, actions for “usurping” Fié’s authority. ` _Damn you, Anga. Trying to **kill** me?!_`



  1. 483\. Steel  
Tony _knows_ how frustrated, irritated, angry and tired Pepper must’ve felt back then, as his PA, because he’s basically in the same job, now. To think that he often lobbed these unappetising interactions to Pepper…. Well, if she’s got steel backbone, then he does, too! ` _Ready, smurfies? It’s Tony 2.0!_ `



  1. 484\. Niece  
Tony never experienced having extended family before this. Howard and Maria Stark were both only children, and he’s one, himself. But now, he happens to find the _joys_ of such, because Fié’s four… nieces?… are giving him a relaxing massage and chit-chat combo, while he’s lying beside the unconscious Fié.



  1. 485\. Yes  
Tony tiredly flips Anga off when the latter wakes him up for another gruelling day as glorified secretary. (` _Monarch’s consort. Spouses share things legally. Bah!_ `) He really, really regrets saying yes to that manipulative git, by now. Unfortunately, aside from that trait, Anga’s _also_ persistent. “Yes, yes, yes, I’m ‘wake!”



  1. 486\. Wallet  
Ýmirheim’s resources are alarmingly low. Tony’s long known this; else why would its _monarch_ work so much, _so menially_ for food and other necessities? Now that he’s actively working on the ledgers and the problems and the sad, disappointed sighs, however, he truly wishes that his wallet’s contents could help.



  1. 487\. Juice  
Tony must inspect a construction site almost half a world over. He _hates_ it, even before he goes. He does set a few milaða-hardened Iron Man suits to guard his family, but it doesn’t feel enough. And his transport…. “Don’t you have more juice in this thing? It’s so _slow_!”



  1. 488\. Only  
Raw materials and construction skills aren’t the only things that Ýmirheim can export, Tony thinks, as he spies one of the construction workers patiently moulding leftover gravel and crystal-shards into a beautifully exotic panel, which will bring artistically arranged pebbles of refracted light into a room. _This_ , he can market.



  1. 489\. Velvet  
“Can you make a softer version of that panel?” Tony enthusiastically asks the art-working construction worker. “With the general texture and tone of velvet cloth. Not everyone like that rugged look, y’see, though I do. But it means you can _expand_. Let’s try at least five more vastly different versions.”



  1. 490\. In Absentia  
Fié’s awake _at last_ when Tony’s back. Anga’s in the middle of giving report of what Tony’s been doing, and visibly tries not to be affected when, bypassing them, Tony pounces on Fié and kisses the latter silly. He’s _showing_ them what he’s _feeling_ in their absence, ‘complementing’ the report.



  1. 491\. Layer  
Agents Pretender and Legolas sent an alarming message: HYDRA’s apparently soaked itself into even the top layers of Earth’s defences – the military and police forces, and maybe also _others_. And Tony’s remaining family and friends _are still on Earth_. They’re quite in danger, as shown with what happened with Vovo.



  1. 492\. Footstep  
Helblindi’s proven themself an apt pupil; following after Tony’s footsteps in business management, if far quieter and more forceful than Tony. With a little more polish…. Well, that’s where Anga’s coming in. That prat _owes_ Tony. So Tony leaves the state export business to them and trudges back to Earth.




	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the uncovering of HYDRA and some other not-so-nice things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning for:**  
>  Piece 507: _Heavy Teens:_ Intimacy

**Earth, August 2015**

  1. 493\. Home  
It’s strange, and surprising, though maybe it shouldn’t, that Tony finds that something seems to be lacking on Earth. Everywhere he looks, goes, plans to go, and everything he does and plans to do, they make him think, ` _Ooh, he/she/they’ll like this!_ ` or the opposite. They make him miss home.



  1. 494\. Bounce  
“Can we bounce out of this?” Tony murmurs, horrified, as he reviews the full list that Tasha and Clint have gathered, with liberal distraction provided by Cap. List which they daren’t send to him, however many times the message’s securely bounced about on the way and however much it’s encripted.



  1. 495\. Trail  
The agents picked up the trail from Tony’s dealings with InGen, at first, past what they’d found within SHIELD. It branched out and grew _much, much bigger_ from there. HYDRA’s building _and deploying_ nuclear, genetic, chemical, physical, _living_ weapons _everywhere_ , ready for use at a moment’s notice, and _nobody knew_.



  1. 496\. Destroy  
“They’re going to destroy Earth!” Tony exclaims after reading the whole dossier. Cap agrees. But Tasha shakes her head. “They’ll _control_ Earth,” she says. Clint concurs. “Don’t agree? Boom. Speak up? Boom. Have other ideas? Boom. Unless the ideas benefit them, of course. And we haven’t even uncovered everything….”



  1. 497\. Neither  
Neither Tasha nor Clint are certain how to proceed, next. The “Avengers” are so few, while the corruption’s so deep, so well-spread, so quick. With HYDRA’s presence in SHIELD, they haven’t been candid in their reports there in the first place. ` _So where can we turn to, now?_ `



  1. 498\. Moon  
“Why’d people compare girls to the moon, Tony? The face of the moon is pimply!” On the screen, Tim laughs, pointing at the respective photo on his textbook. Tony grins in response, the first after a long, stressful, fruitless few days. “Don’t ask me!” he matches the laughter.



  1. 499\. Fly  
The agents asked Tony to be a distraction alongside Cap, and he said _yes_. Unbelievable. And, even more unbelievably, it’s been a while since Tony last flew in his Iron Man suit, or even the _Rescue_. Given what he’s about to do, though, he’d rather not fly the _Rescue_.



  1. 500\. Crystal  
Earth’s apparently been the hub of travel for alien species since eons ago, similar to Asgard. There’s good evidence to that. For example, just now, in one of the HYDRA laires deep underground, the Avengers found _boxes_ of polished, faintly glowing, clear crystals which emanate _alien_ type of radiation.



**Antarctica, September-October 2015**

  1. 501\. Refugee  
HYDRA’s beginning to get active. Pepper and Happy are under threat. “Bad ninjas” have even tried to kidnap Jessie, Lex and Tim. Thus, Tony _temporarily_ calls off the operation, quarantines _all_ of his abodes and people, and spirits the midgets plus the Avengers to Antarctica. “You’re refugees here. Behave.”



  1. 502\. Flood  
“You’re a king now, Tony? They’re bowing to you! Wow!” Tim chatters on and on and on and on and on, occasionally joined in by Lex and Jessie, and Tony flails, mentally and verbally, trying to find a solid thing to hang onto amidst the flood of questions and comments.



  1. 503\. Lack  
For being top spies, the agents’ lack of comprehension on Tony’s other role while among the milaðen is bemusing, and… well, _amusing_. But then he catches a calculating glint in Tasha’s eyes and _realises_. Cornering her, he whispers, deadly earnest, “I like you. Please don’t make me judge you guilty.”



  1. 504\. Speech  
Cap drones on and on. Disregarding the man’s speech as background noise, Tony continues to tinker with the winterberry farm’s heavily modified tractor. And then Cap tries to shake his shoulders…. Bad move. A couple of guards hold the man back. Tony looks up. “You’re not Fié. Don’t touch me.”



  1. 505\. Old  
“Who’s Fié?” Cap demands, still. Tony sighs, grumbles, “This is so _old_.” Then he glares at the undaunted man and snaps, “The ‘alien’ your boss tried to kidnap _from my home_. Now what do you call people who kidnap people for being _different_ , huh? On an assumption, no less.”



  1. 506\. Wound  
Tony and Cap can’t argue anymore because two more guards have appeared and silently urged Tony elsewhere. And “elsewhere” turns out to be a bunker in the heart of Antarctica, where he immediately encounters _Fié_ , who instantly begins to check for wounds _on him_. He sighs. ` _Yet another fussy granny-type…._ `



*507. Pillow  
Tony’d _really_ like to ask why in the universe a _recovering-from-birth_ Fié’s _here_ and where they stowed their precious babies because he can neither see nor hear nor feel them here. But they’re sharing a breath and a pillow and a sheet in the nest, and things are rather… distracting.

  1. 508\. Vanish  
Quite _un_ fortunately, Fié pulls away before the heated moment can result in anything, saying, “Týo told me about what you and your cohorts have been doing these months. Why did you not tell me?” And Tony’s desire vanishes, just so. “If you knew, why in the universe did you come?”



  1. 509\. Listen  
It’s ironic that the midgets prove themselves better at listening to instructions than adults. Because _Captain **bloody** America_ has just insulted the milaðen _severely_ by claiming that full-on monarchy is synonymous with tirany and tirany is synonymous with oppression, right before _Fié_ , _after_ the full title’s been introduced.



  1. 510\. Breakfast  
“That’s your breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Tony tells Cap stiffly when a guard roughly shoves a bowl of cold soup past the cell’s food-flap with their foot. “No, _listen_ , don’t say _anything_ till we’re outta here. _Fié_ can’t do much else to save you from mob-linching as it is!”



  1. 511\. Derelict  
“You’ve got to admit, Stark, nobody’d guess this place got a _royalty_ living or visiting. It’s practically _derelict_ , almost worse than my farmhouse,” Clint says when Tony gets back. “Never thought _you_ would stay here, either. Innit too… drab, for your taste? Then again, you, in a _farm_ …?”



  1. 512\. Upside  
Explanations take a long, long, long time to deliver, but deliver them Tony does, in the _desperate_ hope that none’ll follow Cap’s footsteps. Because Fié’s brought out the babies now, and the milaðen are the more tenser for it. But the upside is: He _at last_ gets people to _listen_.



  1. 513\. Entire  
Tony gets to keep the entire “desolate” continent, on the stipulations that: 1) he allow restricted but genuine access to Tony-and-UN-preapproved research teams, and 2) he provide eternal funding similar to the Nobel Prize on categories that he choose himself. Providing the milaðen a second home’s worth it, he thinks.



  1. 514\. Compass  
“The monarch… they’re more like a compass than a dictator to their people, aren’t they?” Tasha murmurs one evening, as Tony visits the nest she shares with Clint, Bruce, Betty and little Anna. Tony snorts, grumbles. “Took you long, Agent Badass. What gave it away? N’you missing the _name_ , y’know.”



  1. 515\. Defend  
Tony thanks his paranoia, his offensive skills, and the milaðen’s speedily deployed and sured up defensive measures. Because, before long, they have to defend themselves from illegal parties trying to land on, spy on, steal from or _attack_ various places in the continent. And no country nor organisation own up.



  1. 516\. Wind  
The former Winter Soldier pops up, next, alongside Sasha, _all armed up_ , from wherever they were. Tony raises an eyebrow. “We got wind that you might need us,” Sasha says breezily to the implied question. “This one wants to help… and I need to pay my penance.”



  1. 517\. Predator  
Sasha acts like a predator, and they _are_ , in a sense, but they _still_ feel jagged and wild, and Tony _worries_. “Don’t waste yourself for revenge. Hypocritical of me, I know, but that’s not the point. Learn from my mistakes. And… well… I’d hate to lose you. So please don’t.”



  1. 518\. Recognisable  
“Won’t Steve like to go with us?” Clint asks carefully as he’s suiting up to go with Tasha, No-Name and Sasha, back to the fray, _without_ Tony. Tony shakes his head to that. “Nope. Got him lots of doodling materials; won’t get bored. Both of us are too recogniseable, anyway.”



  1. 519\. Cave  
There are times where Tony can’t suffer being underground, including this afternoon, after Fié got him to talk about his anti-terrorism gigs. Fié insists that milaðen are naturally cave-dwellers, but, “You can’t argue that way with PTSD, buddy, and whether I like it or not, I still have it.”



  1. 520\. Library  
Online libraries and communities are Tony’s saviour, since the human midgets are mostly cooped in, where it’s warmer, and have little to do other than school. With such resources and little distraction, they’re even doing projects now, under his, Brucey’s, Betty’s and Cap’s guidance, like Lex and her video-game program.



  1. 521\. Jail  
Post-jail Cap is terribly pensive, awkward and avoidant, although he was there only for a week and nothing bad happened then. The isolation was even tempered with the presence of books, blank journals and drawing pads plus tools to use them. Tony privately wonders what’s going on in his mind.



  1. 522\. Generation  
Tony takes much delight in getting “the next generation” to prepare for inheriting SI and his other companies, especially those who are most interested, like Helblindi, Peter and Lex. Well, technically, Lex’s eligible to inherit InGen from Hammond, but she’s much more enamoured of tech and computerisation than animals anyway.



  1. 523\. Source  
Attending board meetings remotely is just as boring as attending them live, and, with how his business _es_ have expanded and grown, Tony must attend _many more_ of those than before. But, lately, he’s finding the midgets to be a good source of fun on remote conferences: Bored? Just go play.



  1. 524\. Mellow  
“You are… much mellower, than you were before,” Ályavanu, Fié’s state secretary, murmurs suddenly after a period of shocked, awkward silence on their end, when Tony picks up a call from Ýmirheim for a sleeping Fié. ` _Before,_ ` Tony thinks. ` _They knew me **quite well** as Farbauti, seems like. Hmm. Curious._`



  1. 525\. Reedy  
Tony can’t immediately dig deeper into this curiosity, unfortunately, because Hammond’s _also_ calling, and he must terminate Ályavanu’s call to receive it, for secrecy’s sake. The old man’s voice is somehow reedier than before. Tony concentrates on that, rather than the fact that Hammond’s asking after his grandchildren _only now_.



  1. 526\. Visceral  
Tony _squeaks_ and leaps away from Fié, after the latter’s finished reviewing the calls made on their shared devise. It’s a visceral reaction to getting a mouthful of numerous sharp, sharp black teeth framed by an angry grimace and complemented by an angry snarl on his face, he tells himself.



  1. 527\. Borrow  
“You are _not_ someone that they can _borrow_ for their pleasures,” Fié snaps when they’re – _mildly_ – under control. Stung, Tony snaps back, “But I’m _not_ a _thing_ kept for your pleasures, hypocrit.” He tries to flounce away, then, but Fié pins him in place… and kisses him. ` _Oh. They’re jealous._ `



  1. 528\. Knowledge  
The knowledge that, as Farbauti, Tony _also_ contributed to Álti’s genes although the child isn’t Fié’s, which Tony’s just pried off of Anga, explains much, and helps Tony understand Fié’s seemingly unfounded jealousy a little bit more. But still,, ` _How many times should I repeat that I’m **not Farbauti**?_`



  1. 529\. Journey  
Perched on one of the farmouses’ roof, Tony sullenly checks on his e-mails and messages. Then, he happens to find a belated video of a 3rd year memorial on the Battle of New York, sent by Tasha through SI’s file-sharing system. He frowns. ` _Three years. It’s been such a journey…._ `



  1. 530\. Tender  
Unluckily for Tony, given his latest spat with Fié, the one who found him on the roof is _Álti_. Perhaps noticing his not-so-friendly vibe… or _having heard about the spat somehow_ … the poor child stays as far as possible. Tony sighs. He’s never a tender man. But. This. Is. _Ridiculous_.



  1. 531\. Message  
Tony _doesn’t care_ what message he’s sending by walking back to the nest with Álti riding on his shoulders. He cares, though, _much_ , when Tasha sends him a message about one Dennis Nedry _sabotashing an island-park full of dinosaurs **and** people_. And the victims from both sides _keep coming_.




	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony stark and the collective attempts to douse the proverbial fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who celebrate it, merry Christmas! And for all, happy holiday! My apologies that this chapter is not fitting for the occasion; the opposite, in fact. But apparently the muse is stingy this year….
> 
>  **Warning for:**  
>  General: _Heavy Teens:_ Canon-Typical Violence

**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, End of October 2015**

  1. 532\. Survey  
Encased in his toughest, fastest Iron Man suit, if rather lacking in spiffy firepower, Tony surveys the carnage of the island-park below him, wide-eyed. The zoo combo has been open for only 6 months and it’s a _kill-zone_ now. Then, JARVIS points him out to the culprit of it all….



  1. 533\. Impoverished  
“Dennis Nedry,” Tony growls, as he dangles the fat slob by one forearm and the neck, tens of feet above the road the slob sped along in an – unfortunately for Nedry – an open-top jeep. “What did you have in your _impoverished_ mind when you thought of this ‘ _bright_ ’ idea, huh?”



  1. 534\. Touch  
Tony drops Nedry in Tasha’s care, saying, “Give this one your bestest touch, will ya? Highest priority.” Then he’s back in the kill-zone, helping herd the hapless visitors and park employees away from the dinosaurs and vice versa. “J, some help here. Break out the Iron Legion. Herding-and-guarding mode.”



  1. 535\. Select  
The veloceraptors seem to target select people, Tony notes, as he does his damnedest best to guard the latters and shoo the formers to the dino-fall-back jungle. ` _If only Voðen’s here. The animal whisperer._ ` But Fié’ll kill _him_ if he dared bring Voðen here, damn the enmity; he _knows_ that.



  1. 536\. Simple  
There’s a simple, _preferable_ solution for the catastrophe, the military – as _shareholder_ – says: nuke the island _and its inhabitants_ , “to prevent the dinosaurs from reaching mainland.” Tony can’t believe it! ` _This again! Since when does **nuking things** become the **prefered** method? Since when do warheads become so **simple** and **cheap**???_``



  1. 537\. Furnace  
The island-park is powered by geothermal energy, and the plant there’s the first sabotaged thing among _so many_. “Nedry’s been doing this for a long time,” Tony grumbles as he steels himself and dives close to the river of magma to repair the intake pipes. “Damn. It’s a furnace here!”



  1. 538\. Slice  
A _precise slice_ on one of the sturdy intake pipes is all the evidence that Tony needs to prove the sabotage. He gets JARVIS to photograph it through the HUD, repairs it, then skedaddles back to blessedly cooler air, if no less dangerous. “Now, where shall we go, J?”



  1. 539\. All In All  
_Half_ of the island-park’s employees and visitors are dead or injured from the sabotage, all in all. Mostly those who are too in-the-open to dive into the nearest bunker, too ‘confident’ or ‘dedicated’ to do so, or directly in the path of a stampeed or a dino’s claws and/or teeth.



  1. 540\. Carve  
Dennis Nedry turns out to have been bought by BioSyn, InGen’s rival _and one of HYDRA’s front companies_. “We can carve out HYDRA once and for all with this momentum, with the right strategy,” Tasha proclaims, supremely satisfied. Tony stares, disturbed by how blasé she is with all the deaths.



  1. 541\. Rush  
Tasha rushes to implement the plan she’s cooked up before Tony can ask about her apparent callousness. But that’s maybe for the best, because he’s just remembered that she was _made_ by a branch of HYDRA, once, and total personal detachment is one of the atributes left from that time.



**Wakanda, November 2015**

  1. 542\. Supply  
Dennis Nedry goes to court, and _all_ data about HYDRA is released to the world, supplied by Nedry himself, Tony, and the Avengers. Governments quake. SHIELD shatters. Earth goes into pieces, figuratively… but nearly literally. If JARVIS hadn’t been quick enough, stopping various mass weapons from being launched….



  1. 543\. Protect  
“It’s supposed to protect us all.” It’s the most remorseful feel that Tony ever gets from Tasha, as she sees the fruition of her plan, cooked up in what feels like forever ago. And indeed, now they’re doing HYDRA’s work, accidentally or not, he thinks, as the reports keep coming.



  1. 544\. Visual  
Tony’s PR team, which has morphed into a PR media company some time ago, does their best in battling bad press on the Avengers, aided by the visual evidence of the latters’ relief efforts. It feels fake, though, however true the footages and all are. Earth needs _peace_ , not _PR_.



  1. 545\. Alone  
“You are not alone in trying to do good, you know, Mister Stark,” T’Challa, the young King of Wakanda, succeeding his father who was killed in the Vienna bombing forever ago, says gently as his path crosses Tony’s in the palace’s main garden. “Wakanda can do more than shelter you.”



  1. 546\. Map  
“It may be time for Wakanda to make itself known in the world,” T’Challa declared. And so maps are spread, plans are laid out, resources are pooled and organised, and many Wakandans join the relief efforts. Not everyone like the King’s decisions, though. Unrest threatens to blow into uprising.



**Ýmirheim, Beginning of December 2015**

  1. 547\. Quiet  
Tony steals a quiet moment to nest with his _whole_ family in-between the planning, implementing, figurative and literal fire-dousing, and on-the-spot scrambling to battle unexpected problems. To achieve that, he bulldozes over the protocol and Fié’s awkward distance, by snatching them right out of their throne in the audience chamber.



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, Middle of December 2015**

548\. Interview  
“That’s not an _interview_ but an _interrogation_ , Nat,” Tony remarks in resigned amusement when Tasha’s finished ‘interviewing’ the new batch of the Avengers’ relief-effort helps, after watching half of it through a security camera. But Clint’s the one replying instead of her, huffing tiredly, half-heartedly, “Y’wanna labels or results, stark?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the discoveries of special children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  General: _Heavy Teens:_ Mad Science, Human Experimentation, Human Cloning  
> Piece 551: _Heavy Teens:_ Failed Human Experimentation  
> Piece 552: _Heavy Teens:_ Discussion of Euthanasia  
> Piece 560: _Heavy Teens:_ Abuse  
> Piece 561: _Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Abuse  
> Piece 565: _Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Abuse

**Isla Sorna, Costa Rica, Middle of December 2015**

  1. 549\. Ledge  
Isla Sorna. An island 84 miles off the island-park, full of _wild dinosaurs_. And rogue InGen people cleverly surround their activities with these naturally dangerous creatures, hiding in a lush, barely touched rainforest jungle. Tony, encased in his stealth-suit, surveys one of their buildings from high up on a ledge.



  1. 550\. Join  
“The military wants you to join us?” Tony asks Rhodes in his neutralest voice once the figurative dust has settled from the raid. The man came and joined the operation _just_ after Tony’s back from scouting, in the suit Tony once gave him, and Tony feels mixed about it all.



*551. Prisoner  
Tony finds it hard not to “go medieval” on the prisoners when, in the deep sweeping of the secret mad-science facility, the hotchpotch team encounters _cages_ of hybrids between veloceraptors and _human children_. Not all the experiments have been… quite successful, at that. Some are grotesque, crippled, or even _dying_.

*552. Stand  
Tony has one clear, unshakable stand on things: You, on full cognisant, have ultimate right on your own body and mind. He wouldn’t dream of robbing it from _anybody_ , especially the little raptor hybrids, who have been robbed empty of this basic freedom all their lives. Even when regarding euthanasia.

  1. 553\. Disaster  
The data retrieved from the facility refers to “Emil,” which leads to “Lockwood Estate,” which leads to “ **E** li **Mil** ls” and a project for _militarised dinosaurs_ for _the highest bidder_. The hybrid _children_ and two other prototypes are meant for _warfare_. Tony feels sick. “We never learn, don’t we? S’a disaster."



**Lockwood Estate, Northern California, United States, Middle of December 2015**

  1. 554\. North  
Cap and Tasha visit Sir Benjamin Lockwood, the employer of Eli Miles, with the half-truthful guise of funding a safe place for displaced “special” children to live. Rhodes in a _borrowed_ stealth-suit shadows them, while Tony checks the Lockwood Estate at large _in detail_. And, north-wise, he finds something… interesting.



  1. 555\. Machine  
Bunkers, labs, testing areas: Tony knows such facilities pretty much, from having and using them himself and visiting others. These lack the machines that he uses to churn out awesome tools… but they’re in line with the ones from _Isla Sorna_. “Folks, I found it,” he broadcasts to the team.



  1. 556\. Auspicious  
Tony listens with one ear as Lockwood talks auspiciously to Cap and Tasha about atoning for past wrongs and helping pave the way for a great future for humankind. ` _Apparently ‘atoning’ and ‘great future’ involves human cloning,_ ` Tony thinks, amused and bemused, as he finds the data in the server.



  1. 557\. Bed  
And,snooping in the manor proper, Tony finds the cloned being, an _ordinary_ little girl, huddling under a bed, terrified _of him_. He’s incensed. It’s been so long since the last time any child _was_ scared of _him_. ` _This won’t do!_ ` So he dilligently gets to work to win her over.



  1. 558\. Loud  
Lockwood may be old and refined, _usually_ , but he’s _loud_ when he sees his “granddaughter” hanging fearlessly on a special harness on Tony’s stealth-suit as it flies in overhead, while Tony strolls in in his best business suit and suave manner below. Then the team presents him Eli Miles’ deeds….



  1. 559\. Gamble  
The team’s gamble strikes true… although Lockwood nearly got a heart attack from the shocking problems _and betrayal_ he’s faced with. He _takes steps_ to rectify the matters, under the team’s advicement: quietly, to – _hopefully_ – not stir up the world’s problems even more and incite retaliation from the candidate buyers.



*560. Tour  
A second tour through a mad-scientist lab doesn’t make it easier to bear, Tony finds. Especially when he finally discovers the “specimens” created in this lab, as specified in the data he and JARVIS previously dug, kept _and starved_ in small, dark cages. ` _Damn. There’s **human** in them, however slight!_`

*561. Violence  
The team’s prepared to be met with violence from the rescuees, given the prior treatment the mad scientists gave them. But, thankfully, the violence seems to be centred more on the food the team’s giving them instead of the team members. “Hmm, maybe Vovo can give’m some TLC?” Tony muses.

  1. 562\. Squint  
The big, white hybrids and the small, black ones are _much_ more dinosaur than human, the data says. They do appear as the amalgamation of dinosaurs that they are. But Tony disagrees. No need to squint to see the human in how they interact with each other and the team.



  1. 563\. Key  
Imprinting is the key to these hybrids’ humanity. Henry Wu, the leading scientist of the island-park who’s gone missing since the sabotage catastrophe months ago (` _Either voluntarily or not._ `), confirms this when Tony finds him hunkered in a tiny, armoured lab+hatchery+nursery just off the cages. And Wu _is_ the imprinter.



  1. 564\. Elementary  
It’s elementary work to claim to his _kidnappers_ that he could make sure things are up to par through “careful and controlled monitoring,” Wu says, and Tony believes him. Not because his words alone, though. Everyone from Eli Mills down indeed seem so desperate as to believe almost _everything_.



*565. Mercy  
Lockwood’s inclined to show mercy to Mills for the betrayal, after a few days. Tony’s _not_. ` _After all this work and all the victims and my sacrifices? Oh no no no no no, old man!_ ` He gets Tasha and Cap to convince Lockwood otherwise, through footages of the hybrids’ “trainings.”

  1. 566\. Boulder  
Tony’d rather finish work as soon as possible than babysitting a child, truthfully, but he can’t help it when Maisie, Lockwood’s “granddaughter,” drags him to play among the boulders in the nearby stream. Apparently, she’s just as affected by the tense, grim atmosphere round the manor these few days.



567\. Gown  
It’s Maisie’s fifth birthday. 21st December. She wants a gown and a party with friends; something that she’s known only from books and films. So, in addition to the hybrids from both the estate and Isla Sorna, Tony gets her a day with… well, _his_ children, all said and done.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and his version of family bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 577: _Heavy Teens:_ Violence, Implied/Referenced Sexual Content  
> Piece 579: _Teens:_ Temporary Character Death  
> Piece 580: _Teens:_ Temporary Character Death  
> Piece 590: _Teens:_ Mild Swearing

**Ýmirheim, End of December 2015**

  1. 568\. Fling  
Tony flings himself into the nest, nearly on top of a dozing Fié+babies, once all legalities for the – previously semi-fake – “home for special children” are _finally_ finalised. Lockwood’s tweaked his will, too, bequeathing custody of his assets – _and Maisie_ – until Maisie’s of age to “the Avengers.” And now, Tony’s _knackered_.



  1. 569\. Rank  
Owen Grady, US navy animal behaviourist and trainer, now ranked captain, _and_ former island-park expert, wants to visit Fié’s homeworld to observe the wildlife there. Tony agrees but stipulates that he not report _anything_ there to anybody in any way, except by Fié’s _fully willing_ permission, with death as penalty.



  1. 570\. Maid  
Nests are so private for the milaðen that nobody other than the nest-family can drop in without _expressed_ permission of the nestlings – the ones nesting there. Ýmirheim’s monarch’s nest is no exception to that, hence no cleaning maids, and Fié’s making Tony clean up his accumulated mess now. ` _Joy…._ `



  1. 571\. Collection  
3 “womb-children,” 2 semi-womb-children (` _And what a freaky situation it was from story alone!_ `), 5 “kin-children,” 8 foster children including Wu’s imprinted hybrid-children (` _Their parents – or grandparent – are better grateful!_ `), 10 surviving hybrid-children from Isla Sorna, and Tony’s got quite the collection of children he must look out for. ` _Uh…._ `



  1. 572\. Doodle  
Tony’s so distracted by his lists that he isn’t quite aware of his surroundings. It’s the only reason why there are colourful doodles on various places on his skin now, adding to the natural striped, braidd, shaped and wavy silvery lines there. Still, he glares at the – literally red-handed – culprits.



  1. 573\. Hunting  
“Maybe you can take the children hunting?” Fié – _the ring-leader_ – offers hopefully when Tony glares at them last. An unimpressed look answers them. “Herding? Or swimming in the lake?” they persist anyway, nervous _er_. And he pounces on them for a well-deserved tickle torture, in answer, far from the babies.



  1. 574\. Guard  
Tony forgot to guard himself from anybody other than a giggling-and-squirming Fié. As the result, the other to-be-punished culprits managed to creep up close. Now they pounce _on him_ , freeing the other parent from torment. Then, predictably, Fié retaliates…. It’s a free-for-all mess of flailing limbs and giggly noises, next.



**Stark Tower, New York, United states, End of December 2015**

  1. 575\. Owe  
Life seems to balance the very good with the very bad _right next to each other_ in Tony’s life. Right now, for example: Knowing – _somehow_ – that he’s back in the tower, people queue in front of his office, with more-or-less the same demand – for things they say he “ _owes_ ” them.



  1. 576\. Querulous  
Being called querulous for not obeying somebody else’s every wish is off-putting, _to say the least_. Being called unreasonable for losing temper for that is unreasonable on itself. And Tony has to point these out _in detail_ on each of the occasions, which are _numerous_. Then, they call him bratty….



*577. Slap  
Watching Pepper slap one of the offenders is immensely satisfying. Punching the guy’s goons into unconsciousness with one hit is even better. Airing the guy’s outrageous, alarming demands anonymously and getting lots of sympathy for the plight is the best of all. Then Fié drops in for mature-rated activities…. _Bestest_.

  1. 578\. Cradle  
“You never tell me when you need to relax. I always have to find about it from another source,” Fié says carefully when Tony’s totally putty in their cradling arms. He snorts, snuggles deeper and mumbles, “Ssssh. ’Plaint ‘ceived ‘n’ set ‘side. Y’never tell me too, n’way.”



**Ýmirheim, January 2016**

*579. Thrice  
Tony wakes up in a totally different place from where he was; nauseated, achy, exhausted, and surrounded by… grieving people? “Huh?” he tries to complain, but no sound vibrates in his – so, so, so sore – throat. Then, _sobbingly_ , Fié _begs_ , “Twice you died and thrice you live…. No more, _please_.”

*580. Understand  
From secondhand, somewhat jumbled account plus muddled personal recollection, Tony figures that he’s been poisoned by some consumable-looking thing in his tower that – _fatally_ – didn’t agree with his new constitution. He doesn’t understand why’d people be concerned _for him_ , still, given his… first?… life being a “ _traitor to the throne_.”

  1. 581\. Ocean  
Fié carts Tony to the balcony of his sickroom the moment he feels well enough to sit up and move a hand. And below, as Tony hobbles slowly, painfully into view, an ocean of blue-skinned bodies breaks into _raucous cheering_. “Uh, why’d they do that? I did nothing worthy.”



  1. 582\. Isolated  
“We have been isolated since the war, for various reasons, and you helped us to reach out… be more like what we used to be… something that I could not do, on my own,” Fié admits when Tony asks, once they’re away from the balcony, back in his hospital prison.



  1. 583\. Help  
“You’ve been their glue, all this time,” Tony points out when he recovers his breath and energy back from the small trip. “Like Pepper with our companies, all this time. Much help. I… don’t usually pay much attention to things. She’s been harping ‘bout that. So… umm, help? Please?”



  1. 584\. Moment  
Fié huffs out a brittle chuckle. “We were having a serious moment about Ýmirheim and you veered off to rambling about somebody else, elsewhere,” they complain, semi-seriously. Tony gives them an exasperated look, more than half-seriously. “Was trying to ask for help, like you wanted, and you complained ‘bout it.”



  1. 585\. Lunch  
Fié shoves a spoonful of… something… into Tony’s half-agape mouth before he can say anything else. “Your ‘lunch’,” they say when Tony glares at them, mouth full. Swallowing the – admitedly tasty – goo only results in another spoon in his mouth, though, not freedom, and Fié’s even blocked their mind link.



  1. 586\. Negotiation  
Negotiation after the ‘lunch’ is intense, hard, and emotionally charged. Fié wants Tony to remove himself and his responsibilities completely to Ýmirheim. Tony wants to explore the universe while still basing himself on Earth. At the end, they settle with – _sizable_ – permanent milaða guard detail for Tony wherever he goes.



  1. 587\. Perfect  
Tony’s debating about the dilemma of whether he’d be willing to be poisoned again to get a free, attentive, cuddly massage from Fié that hits all the spots with all the sensual comfort that he craves, like he’s presently experiencing. Then again, this is almost too perfect to be real….



  1. 588\. Fat  
“Why’s there no fat kids here? Haven’t you solved the food production and distribution thing?” Tony asks in the lull between petitions as he accompanies Fié in the audience chamber. Fié shakes their head. “We grow big, not grow fat, usually. And recovering from the losses has been… hard, slow.”



  1. 589\. Roof  
If Tony didn’t know better, he’d claim the milaðen way as living in poverty. Roofs, walls and even worldly possessions are optional, since people are so used to water-based things – both living in them and using them – and Ýmirheim is practically soaked in such things. Family, on the other hand….



*590. Singe  
Presently, Tony’s finding out how _uncomfortable_ it is to smith metals while being blue-skinned. The heat, the fire sparks, the metal splash-droplets, the stabbing glances of bright light on metallic surfaces…. Even worse, being singed now feels like getting a _third-degree burn_. ` _Oh damn crap fuck hell – that **hurts**!!!_`

  1. 591\. Tool  
Facing a furiously frightened Fié is just as unpleasant as the singeing incident. So, Tony, the escape artist that he is after so many kidnapping attempts throughout his life, deploys this finely honed skillset of his. This time, his escape tool’s composed of, among others, a convenient jar of glitters.



  1. 592\. Equivalent  
A huge hunk of a milaða drops lightly beside Tony as he’s hunkered by a cliff-sheltered water hole. “Whom is Ýto fleeing from?” There’s a clear, wavering note of laughter in their voice; the milaðen’s equivalent of grinning mischievously, since showing teeth is interpretable as either aggression or lust.



  1. 593\. beggar  
Tony lifts his eyes from the water hole to glare at the intruder, but then gapes instead. The giantly giant’s dressed like a beggar, and they even smell like one, despite their size and general mannerism. But their eyes, their face…. “Do I know you?” he swallows. ` _Why so similar?_ `



  1. 594\. Wander  
The stranger tries to wander to a different topic, when Tony asks why they look alike, at least facially. They even tries to wander away in truth, when he persists. But, at last, Tony gets what he wants to know… and he doesn’t know whether to try to _un_ -know it.



  1. 595\. Range  
Farvangr. _Youngest_ and only surviving _womb-sibling_ of _Farbauti_. Target of general ire and persecution, post-war. The only “sane” sibling under the “tender” care of a ruthless, power-hungry mother. Raised mostly by Farbauti. Saved because of it. And Tony thought he got the full-range version of his insane “past life” already….



  1. 596\. Quality  
Tony looks at the _huge_ … little sibling?… up and down and even sidewise. The hints that he sees from them clash terribly. Horrible-quality loincloth and hygiene, high-quality built seldom seen in his travels here, terrific-quality intelligence and humour despite the _centuries_ of ill will directed at them…. So he asks.



  1. 597\. Honour  
“The Monarch is not honour-bound to protect Ava,” the giantly giant says, slowly, with their eyes far, far away. “Was Ýto informed? – It was a marriage of spouses, not clans, so Ava was not included in the claiming of the Royal House. But Ýto Fié set aside… things, anyway, discreetly.”



  1. 598\. Shelter  
“Ava could not find shelter in the palace. It would only endanger Ýto Fié and the Monarch’s standing in such delicate time. The palace would only remind Ava of Ýto, too. But Ava was – _is_ – always nearby, in various disguises. Ýto’s last request was… for Ava… to guard Ýto Fié.”



  1. 599\. Gaudy  
Tony thought to lift the giant’s spirit up by turning into his gaudy self. But now, he must deal with a sobbing, blubbery mountain of unwashed muscles instead. Then he finds that, for Farbauti, being gaudy and larger-than-life was both a defence mechanism and their only way to joke. ` _Creepy…._ `



  1. 600\. Engine  
The sound of spaceskiff engines rumble-keening rapidly closer tells Tony who’s _finally_ catching up to him. The royal guards pouring out, followed by Týo’s team, clinches it. So it’s not a surprise at all when Fié trots out last. The high-tech empty stretcher that follows them, though…. “I’m okay, Fié.”



  1. 601\. Office  
The nest-turned-private-office setting is totally _not_ Tony’s favourite. But he understands that matters related to him – including his last “antics” (` _Damn you, Fié. I’m not a kid!_ `) – have set _the Monarch_ back a lot regarding “essential realm-wide recovery.” Just… sometimes… he wants to crunch that lofty, big-worded prat small, paper-ball-like.



  1. 602\. Monarch  
Fié for once forbids Tony from accompanying them to the audience chamber. “Ava,” likewise. And Tony wishes he didn’t think to eavesdrop…. Petitioners – of the same ilk, it seems – are requesting that the Monarch “ _terminate_ their traitorous _former_ spouse.” ` _How long has this been going? Why didn’t they tell me?_ `



  1. 603\. Pain  
Confronting Fié dead-on when they’re back in the nest only makes them fold deeper into themself. It goes worse when they’re trying to breastfeed the babies and barely gets out any milk. ` _Stress-induced dryness, Ýto,_ ` Ava informs him gently, mentally, while Fié’s an imploding ball of pain in his arms.



  1. 604\. Tell  
“Tell each other. No big or possibly harmful secret. No omission.” It’s the new deal that Tony and Fié make, on a magically binding contract no less, with a mental poke that escalates to pinching harder and harder on escalating breaching. Anga – the suggester – is a good mediator, apparently….



  1. 605\. Crunch  
Number-crunching for the queendom in Ýmirheim setting always takes time to adjust, given the different measurements, the scope of the covered areas, and even the shapes of the numbers and letters themselves. Tony likes it best, though, compared to taking complaints. Seated beside Fié in the throneroom, he number-crunches away.



  1. 606\. Doable  
Grady wants to borrow Tony’s stealth-suit, for protection against extreme temperatures and dangerous animals during the wildlife observation. It’s doable, but takes another contract before Tony agrees and transports him to Ýmirheim. Then Fié got an idea to make an Earth-compatible book on Ýmirheim – culture, flora, fauna and all.



  1. 607\. Change  
“It’d mean a big change here, y’know,” Tony cautions on the book idea. “I’m not the only explorer out there. You sure we’re ready to receive tourists? What about safety and security? I don’t want this place to turn into a kill-zone like the island-park. It’d quickly go _intergalactic_!”



  1. 608\. Acrid  
The acrid fumes from burning materials are even more unpleasant on milaða nose, Tony’s finding out, as he’s trying to return some power to Ýmirheim without “the Anchor,” AKA “the Casket of Ancient Winters” that Thor once talked about, which Asgardians took during the last war _and keep ever since_.



  1. 609\. Option  
“Wish the arc reactor’s an option,” Tony grumbles when, even using the thing that formerly kept him alive, the ambient magic still feels rather unstable. Fié just shakes their head and spirits him away from his workshop, first, but then says, “Your arc reactor _generates_ power, Afa, not _stabilising_ it.”



  1. 610\. Hug  
Fié goes bug-eyed as Tony hugs them long and fiercely for the brilliant, problem-solving info. He’s confused about the reaction, at first, but then, “I never hugged you, didn’t I? Sorry. My parents…. They never encouraged things like this. My peers liked my money and status more than me, too.”



611\. Never  
On the topic of families, Fié apologises to Tony about never telling him of his “family” here until he met one himself. It’s Tony who goes bug-eyed, now. People seldom apologise to him; unprompted, sincerely, with no additional motivation. He tells Fié that, then promptly tries to escape the mushiness.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the Introduction of New Problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the long absence, folks. It turned out that I couldn't post regularly while in a holiday trip…. And I had little time to write, at that. Now I am free _er_. But sadly, there are only about a couple more chapters left, from the pre-written bunch….  
> Well, just let's see what the muse will dictate to me next about this fic, shall we? And, regardless, happy reading – I hope!
> 
>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 624: _Teens:_ Slavery of Non-Humans  
> Piece 633: _Teens:_ Implied/Referenced Wartime Violence

**Malibu, California, United States, February 2016**

  1. 612\. Frank  
“To be frank, Mister Stark, you are far from the person I thought you are,” Lockwood says, while his eyes are glued on Maisie, playing down on the beach with Tim, Lex, Jessie, Tony’s sprogs, Vovo’s, and the hybrid children, watched by their parental figures. Tony just points to Fié.



  1. 613\. Member  
“Can we add new members to the sprog fest?” Clint asks carefully when he manages to corner Tony alone. Tony shrugs to that. “Depends on if the new members need it, won’t unnecessarily antagonise the other kids, and can be sworn to total secrecy. Their guardians, too. No exception.”



  1. 614\. Leverage  
“Are you going to use the new members as leverage against the guardians?” is Clint’s next question. It makes Tony stare sharply at him and retort, “Are you going to take children as hostages? If you are, let me dump you in the outer space. See how you’ll like it.”



**Diagon Alley, London, England, United Kingdom, Beginning of February 2016**

  1. 615\. South  
Tony learnt much, from what manuscripts Týo’s team gathered during their reconnaissance to gather info of who cast _a child_ to one of the most horrible prisons on Earth. It’s not enough, though, for what he wants to do. Sadly, his jaunt at the magical shopping street quickly goes south….



  1. 616\. Personnel  
“What’s wrong with being a giant?” Tony squawks, when one of the red-robed people – law-enforcement personnel, he supposes – tries to clap him in what feels like magic-suppressing cuffs, after another one cited the reason of why he’s a danger to society. “I was doing nothing offensive, at that!”



  1. 617\. Jigsaw  
The hidden magical district empties in record time on Tony’s admission. Not even the shopkeepers are there. Some establishments even close abruptly, tightly, and got surrounded by strong wards. But another group has just materialised nearby, intent on capturing him _too_. The situation feels like a wrongly completed jigsaw puzzle.



  1. 618\. Clean  
Imitating Hulk’s favourite way, Tony makes a high, clean leap above the converging groups, thanking his hours of exercise. He makes a running beeline to the huge white marble building that’s this place’s bank from the intel, next. He needs clean money for his purposes, and the bank offers bartering.



**Gringotts, Diagon Alley, London, England, United Kingdom, Beginning of February 2016**

  1. 619\. Hold  
Tony barters away a chunk of ore, first; native to Ýmirheim, plenty to find, and nicely magic-conductive. The short, sharp-faced beings – goblins, the intel said – haggle fiercely. He haggles fiercely back, joyfully. They ignore the yappy, grabby humans flooding the bank, trying to… hold him hostage? Capture him for parts?



  1. 620\. Rest  
Tony ends up dealing with the clan chief of this bank for the rest of the ore he’s got with him, for quite a nice sum of this community’s currency, kept on his person in a small leather pouch bonded to his blood. Apparently, the goblins like _making_ magicwork creations….



  1. 621\. Name  
Tony’s starting to make a name among the goblins when he confesses that he likes to artifice magicwork things, himself, and does some blacksmithing on the side. The name gets more recognition when a visiting clansgoblin from old US of A reveals that he’s a hugely successful global-scoped businessman.



  1. 622\. Table  
Then, Tony puts a reputedly famous, definitely useful Ýmirheimi pearl on the table…. The congregation bursts into paroxysms of delight and awe, this time. Apparently, the huge, rich-glowy-blue, magic-storing-and-amplifying pearl’s supposed to be just a myth here. And that’s _before_ he tells them that it’s to be bartered for, _too_.



  1. 623\. Unable  
“Ah. Sorry. I’m unable to decide on any trading agreement for this one. The ore’s more abundant than this beauty, y’see. It’s a national treasure,” Tony explains when the goblin tries to set up a second contract with him, after agreeing on binding paper that they won’t misuse the pearl.



**Diagon Alley, London, England, United Kingdom, Beginning of February 2016**

*624. Scout  
Tony adores the fairies at the pet shop, but hates the fact that they’re _sold_. From a brief observation alone, he finds that they’re _sentient_ , that they got their own _language_. To think that the pet shop’s located in the supposedly “light-oriented” _shopping_ district…. Still, “Wanna be my scouts, buddies?”

  1. 625\. Flower  
Various fresh flowers available for shelter, sustenance and garments are the currency for the fairies, apparently, and they’re more than happy to become Tony’s new eyes and ears. At least it’s what he can interpret from their high-pitched chattering, which often overlap one another. Well, if so, “Wanna be babysitters?”



  1. 626\. Lesson  
The petrified salesgirl at the pet shop and the creepy, desirous-for-parts old man at the… wand?… shop are the only shopkeepers left in the district, if Tony doesn’t want to go down the reputedly seedier part, Nocturn Alley. Well, it’s a lesson to be more discreet in the future… maybe….



  1. 627\. Loopy  
It should be alarming, maybe, that Tony suddenly got loopy while trying to exit the district through the way he came: a humongous wrought-iron gate mascarading as dirty naked-brick wall. But, being loopy, all that he knows is how the world’s suddenly a dizzying blob of colours which loves jigging.



  1. 628\. Throne  
Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for the world to right itself up again. Unfortunately, the first thing that Tony hears afterwards is how _serious_ Neuolvir _the ruthless killer_ sounds, when they proclaim, “You shall answer to the Throne for intending harm on the Monarch’s spouse.” ` _I just wanna go shopping!_ `



**Stark Tower, New York, United States, Beginning of February 2016**

  1. 629\. Flow  
“Go with the flow” is the kindest thing any of the 4 teammate-spouses can come up to soothe Tony’s temper. The would-be captors, just like the first batch forever ago, got transported to the interrogation floor in stark Tower. Unlike before, though, they apparently don’t belong to a vigilante group.



**Nocturn Alley, London, England, United Kingdom, Beginning of February 2016**

  1. 630\. Crate  
Stubbornly, Tony returns to Diagon Alley, although now much shorter and looking different (` _Thanks, magic!_ `), and escorted blatantly by the royal guards. Boulstered with such protection and seeing that the district’s still empty, he veers off to the darker one… and finds two terrified teen boys stuffed in a crate.



  1. 631\. Warming Box  
Tony’s no longer attracted to hot things anymore, except for hot people, after his transformation’s this advanced. He’s still got the nifty pocket dimension tied to his illusioned ellastic bracelet that he made forever ago, though. He gets out a warmer from there and makes hot chocolate for the kids.



  1. 632\. Vantage View  
The flying brooms available on Diagon Alley are ridiculous, for someone Tony’s real size, but a _flying carpet_ is another matter entirely. Fortunately Nocturn Alley isn’t only a den of sins and vises, but also smuggled goods against political laws. The vantage view offers Tony and his people much intel.



*633. Worn  
More children and adults in horrible situations not of their making who want to escape are recovered through the new way of “window-shopping.” It mars Tony’s first magical carpet ride, but the outcome’s worth it… perhaps. These people are worn, beaten, even forced into obedience, but apparently still _mostly_ salvageable.

  1. 634\. Sickly Yellow  
The endeavour isn’t unnoticed by the wrong people, though, as expected. Jets of colours ranging from sickly yellow to sharp green rain on the flying carpet, creating air hazards that Ovrekka has to concentrate fully to navigate. Tony picks up the slack in shielding, marking his first ever magical battle.



  1. 635\. Demotion  
“We will get demoted by this,” Týo remarks somewhat humorously at the end of the battle. “Ðolukonnar will not appreciate their spouse gallivanting into any battle, let alone an elða-based one.” And, to that, Tony promises to rescind the demotion, in one way or another. ` _My own squad sounds good._ `



  1. 636\. Transform  
Rústla notices the stowaway before the team’s transported back to the tower. It’s a girl… maybe… who can’t seem to settle with being young, old, in-between, female, male, small, large, etc. Apprehension and excitement make her transform so quickly and randomly. Then she introduces herself, “I’m Nymphadora Tonks, former Auror.”



  1. 637\. Legal  
The name draws the team’s attention to the ever-transforming girl. Even Tony’s aware of the significance. “Your organisation got a reason why they didn’t do things all legal and the like, kid? Why’d they wanna kidnap me? What’s an Auror? Why’d you wanna tag along? Y’know anything ‘bout this situation?”



  1. 638\. Phantom Pain  
Nymphadora Tonks winces, cringes, curls into herself, as if with phantom pain too great and unexpected to hide… or maybe with real pain from some unseen attack. Tony frowns. Before he can say anything, though, she says, “Save all the Muggleborns, then don’t come back. It’s no longer safe here.”



  1. 639\. Reminiscence  
Tony’s further questions are met with visible resistance. “No time for reminiscence,” the girl says at last, when Rústla prods at her with a hard look. She then explains that she’s been evacuating the persecuted people off UK for a while, and she must return to that self-imposed duty ASAP.




	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the aftermath of the nation-wide magical problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks… could I have your opinions, please? Do you think, should I put _Harry Potter_ and _Jurassic Park_ in the fandom section, after all? Thanks….
> 
>  **Warnings for:**  
>  General: Dehumanisation, Slavery, Implied/Referenced Violence  
> Piece 640: _Teens:_ Alien Biology  
> Piece 641: _Heavy Teens:_ Slavery  
> Piece 644: _Mature:_ Slavery, Violent PTSD  
> Piece 645: _Heavy Teens:_ Dehumanisation, Slavery  
> Piece 655: _Explicit:_ Traumatic Experience, Loss of Parent(s), Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Murder  
> Piece 658: _Mature:_ Mild Sexual Content

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, Middle of February 2016**

*640. Prison of the Mind  
“Aslakonnar’s mind is self-imprisoned in the norms, rules and traditions of the culture Aslakonnar was reborn into,” Týo says quietly when Tony complains for the umpteenth time about Fié’s offer to _make him pregnant_. “Nobody else can free Aslakonnar but Aslakonnar’s own self, willingly. Forcefulness will not serve anybody well.”

*641. Catching Up  
Ignoring the topic entirely, Tony sets to catching up to news about the rescue of the persecuted British magicals with gusto. His impromptu team has saved 5, 3 of them children, but they – and Nymphadora “Dora” Tonks – reported that there are many kept in manors or _sold_ somewhere else.

  1. 642\. Crunchy  
Physically attending a board meeting is very, very, very boring. Tony entertains himself by _loudly_ snacking on crunchy treats whenever someone’s speaking, though he daren’t do so when Pepper’s the one who speaks. Despite that, he goes serious when it’s his turn to speak. He _does_ care for his companies.



**Malibu, California, United States, Middle of February 2016**

  1. 643\. Border  
Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey and Natalie McDonald, the 3 children rescued from Nocturn Alley, are still largely withdrawn and unspeaking after a few days. They have no problem decorating the borders of the Malibu home with the other children, using creatively managed recycled materials hardened for the weathers, however, thankfully.



*644. Lash Out  
The “Wizarding” adults, with their spouses missing and presumed _sold_ , are harder to live with. The men lash out at _everything_ , on seemingly random triggers. Tony has to remove them from active socialisation – _for now_ – after they triggered each other and almost _killed_ one of the small, black dino-hybrid children.

*645. Lurid  
Lurid tales of human-on-human predation and degradation keep coming as Tony keeps in touch with Nymphadora Tonks and other British magical humans in their guerrilla efforts to free the so-called “Muggleborn” and “blood traitors” from their “Pureblood masters/mistresses.” Tony feels dirty, even just receiving the recountings secondhand.

  1. 646\. Arsenal  
Tasha helps put together the evidence to beg for international hand in UK magical side’s business. None of the people sheltered in Tony’s home or playing a deadly hide-and-seek in Britain have enough clout to make the court _see_ , but with such arsenal as this dossier… a wallop is incoming.



  1. 647\. Florescent  
Strolling along the home’s borders and looking at all the florescent, beautiful and unique decorations the children have put there is the most soothing activity that Tony can come up without leaving Malibu. He’d _love_ to skedaddle to Ýmirheim for some Fié-branded TLC, but… well, he can’t leave _yet_.



  1. 648\. Flammable  
Tony wouldn’t ever guess that Ýoluti the _cheerful, eager, well-educated grannie_ got a flammable temper; not only for their crafts, at that, but also – no, _especially_ – regarding the abuse of children. And Fié’s just confessed that they’ve told _that grannie_. ` _No wonder my beach’s now a **battle spaceship** parking lot…._`



  1. 649\. Bittersweet  
The expansion and toughening of the _Rescue_ is a bittersweet triumph for Tony. It’s fiddly, complicated and useful enough to give him a huge sense of accomplishment. But, at the same time, he wishes that the circumstance weren’t so horrible. Well, anyway, he’s now ready to transport lots of rescuees.



  1. 650\. Buckle Up  
The children have been secured away in Áyshkashla. The volatile adult rescuees have been knocked out – humanely – and stored in Antarctica. The new-and-improved _Rescue_ has been stocked up to secure more volatile rescuees, who are maybe also heavily injured. And now, the rescuers buckle up for the trip in truth.



**Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, End of February 2016**

  1. 651\. Holiday  
“We need a long, long holiday,” Nymphadora Tonks says wryly when Tony asks what she and the others need now that the adult rescuees have been settled temporarily in the island Tony leased from the Indonesian government, while the young ones are grouped together with the other children in Áyshkashla.



  1. 652\. Recent  
“Isn’t this counted as holiday?” Tony smiles lopsidedly in response, deliberately looking at the pristine sea, white-sanded beach and traditional huts they’ve been staying in. But he knows – oh he _knows_ – that the recent traumas can’t be wiped out so soon, so easily… maybe even _never_ , for _all_ of them.



  1. 653\. Island  
“I have an island, an unplottable one,” Sirius Black, one of the _seemingly_ saner adult survivors, says, apparently overhearing Tony’s chat with Dora. “Black family’s. Safe, if I key you in. Nobody unauthorised can take it. Nice defences. Permanently expanded inside. I… meant it for my godson. Harry. Harry Potter.”



  1. 654\. Rustic  
“I like this one better. It’s got a rustic charm,” Tony quirks a smile. “We can always buy this island, too, and ward it, if we like.” But the real concern’s actually the _in_ stability flickering deep in Black’s eyes. ”Nice” defences for one like Black may translate as “very lethal.”



**Áyshkashla, Northern Alaska, United States, End of February 2016**

**655. Intelligent  
Natalie McDonald. Eleven years old, and already leading a hellish existence for months, beginning with the very traumatic experience of her _whole family_ being tortured _and_ murdered **_right before her_**. Sadly, she’s not the only one. She’s the only child greeting Tony with an intelligent gleam in her eyes, though.

**Lockwood Estate, Northern California, United States, End of February 2016**

  1. 656\. Riverbank  
Tony’s once more chaperoning an excursion down the riverbank of Lockwood’s grounds. Now, though, Fié, the Avengers and co and a few Wakandans help him, since he’s got a horde of _broken_ children to look after. They splash away on the riverbank. Some even paddle about on inflatable canoes.



  1. 657\. Occasion  
“I never thought I would ever experience an occasion like this,” Lockwood whispers, as his gaze’s locked on Maisie, twirling about and laughing with the other children on the lawn, humans and milaðen and hybrids alike, following the upbeat music of the party meant just for them. “Thank you, Tony.”



*658. Hunger  
Tony presses close and locks lips with Fié on a corner when the other adults get busy eating in shifts, after the children have eaten. There’s another kind of hunger he’d like to sate, really, but for now he has to be satisfied _just_ with this… and some discreet groping….

  1. 659\. Route  
When the children are abed, tired out by all the activities and excitement, the adults meet to discuss what route they’re going to take regarding the British magical community, and the magical side of the world at large. Especially when there are _still_ the on-going, ever-spreading, oft-violent, insidious HYDRA-related problems.




	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and sprog-related cases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 679: _Explicit:_ Sexual Content  
> Piece 680: _Explicit:_ Sexual Content

**Lockwood Estate, Northern California, United States, End of February 2016 (Ctd.)**

  1. 660\. Grass  
Clint seats himself beside Tony on the grass when the meeting adjourns. “Remember what I said about adding sprogs to this horde?” he begins, carefully. “Got word from their guardians. They’re all ready to keep mum about everything. Even after I hinted about the latest situation to them.”



  1. 661\. Face  
Tony scrutinises Clint’s face, which is for once so open and so, so vulnerable. “Your family, isn’t it?” he murmurs. “Are they in danger? Need extraction? When? Where?” Clint’s slumping shoulders answer the first question of the barrage, then, “Can you teleport them and things away once we’re there? Soon?”



  1. 662\. Resource  
Tony can’t _yet_ extract an image safely and securely from somebody’s mind, to get to Clint’s safehouse. He asks for Týo’s help for that. And, on his explanation, the whole team offer theirs… plus _all resources_. “You got more resources, now,” Clint observes. “Your baby’s a big name on alien-land?”



**Ketapang, Banyuwangi, Indonesia, End of February 2016**

  1. 663\. Port  
To have the new sprogs bond with the others, Tony got the… probably bright… idea to revisit Bali, the “poor folks” way, via ferry crossing from Java. As his modified bus queues – long, long queue – at the port to board the ferry, he lets the sprogs wander outside, under supervision.



  1. 664\. Recover  
Natalie McDonald returns to the bus with Lila and Cooper Barton, carrying 2 steaming cups of instant noodles. She gives one to Tony with a small – _but still there and genuine_ – smile. ` _She’s recovering nicely,_ ` Tony thinks. _Still_ , ` _It’s hot! Will it be poisonous for me? How can I refuse?_ `



  1. 665\. Fight  
It’s good for internal unity for the sprogs when they’re willing to fight on behalf of their own, namely the dinosaur-hybrid children. It’s bad for the atmosphere of the already impatient queuers, though. Fortunately, Týo’s there to cool down the atmosphere… rather literally…. Then Neuolvir broadcasts their peaceful, friendly intentions.



**Bali, Indonesia, End of February-Middle of March 2016**

  1. 666\. Mansion  
One of Tony’s new milaða-friendly hotels is a modified mansion plus private surfing beach in a remote, hilly area away from the touristic hubbub. He’s got his own pavilion somewhat removed from it, though, and directs his folks there. _Un_ fortunately, HYDRA catches up with them, just then, seeking the hybrids.



  1. 667\. Pall  
A pall of fear permeates not only Tony’s folks but also the guests of the hotel. It makes him _mad_. Ordinary, good people should feel safe with him, about him, in his properties. Not even his before-Afghanistan self would tolerate any deviation from this policy. So Iron Man _acts_.



  1. 668\. Quick  
Tony’s quick action earns well regard from the hotel guests, but displeasure from the government. “Well, you should clean house and police your borders better, then. I’m here for a _vacation_ , not your jobs,” he snipes when the Governer of Bali confronts him. “Now, either you skedaddle or we’re gone.”



  1. 669\. Die  
Tony’s folk’s enthusiasm has died with the HYDRA attack and subsequent government-type whining, apparently. They’re just sitting about, looking tensely at everything, instead of surfing, playing in the sand, or chatting with the guests. It won’t do! So Tony searches for simple-but-fun games for _everyone_ to play in the beach.



  1. 670\. Reconcile  
“You know, Mister Stark, it’s… hard, to reconcile the image you presented to us in 2012 with… this,” Cap admits when evening grows late and people litter the sand, porch deck and tideline, happily tired and sated. “Can we… start over? For peace? I don’t want to upset the children….”



  1. 671\. Quarantine  
The Indonesian government argues that some of the midgets are more dinosaurs – _animals_ – than humans, therefore they have to be quarantined and examined for diseases before they can have – _limited_ – access to anywhere in Indonesia. Tony argues that they are human enough not to be _jailed_ , _experimented on_ and _shunned_.



  1. 672\. Concentration  
“My apologies, Aslakonnar, but Aslakonnar does not possess enough concentration at present to safely learn about viewing a stranger’s memory,” Ovrekka, Týo’s teammate-spouse that’s reputedly good at viewing memories, says when Tony requests a lesson from them. “Aslakonnar should learn meditation first, probably moving meditation. Ðolukonnar is good at it.”



  1. 673\. Unstable  
Unstable situations aren’t good for the development of children, parenting books claim. But Tony thinks differently. The only constants of his life growing up were old-man Jarvis, Anna Jarvis, the _absence_ of Howard and Maria Stark, and an overflow of money. These children are already _much_ luckier than he was.



  1. 674\. Queue  
Watching the various children – family and guests alike – queue to get a few scoops of ice cream is so very fun, Tony finds. The sharp differences that some of them sport only make it funner. Then Týo and Rústla team up, teasing them into laughing and making snarky words/sounds/moves. ` _Bestest._ `



  1. 675\. Alacrity  
Apparently, periodically but in random places on Earth, Fié’s been acting as tour guide, area search assistant, design consultant and many more, throughout the _centuries_ after the war. Someone whose _grandfather_ was helped much by them recognised how they instructed the midgets, and now catches them up with all alacrity.



  1. 676\. Pernickety  
“Mister Nalla was most pernicketty with the number and conditions of our supplies,” Douglas “Doug” Homer, the Fié-fan, reminisces grinningly over a cup of Fié-made iced chocolate. “Grandpa’s most irritated with that, since they _also_ had to start the hike pre-dawn, in thick fog. But then he turned pernickety, _too_!”



  1. 677\. Crack  
Pepper’s smart, mature, composed persona cracks horribly when Doug posts to his social-media groups, one of which is for Fié-fans, _including her_ , boasting about meeting “the famous Mr. Nala.” Clinging fast to Fié, she tearfully claims she’s Nia, whose hatred and fear towards wintertime _he_ helped erase when she’s _eight_.



  1. 678\. Over-Bright  
“Afaaaa. Too bright!” Fié whimpers when Tony clicks on the light in their nest in the morning, when they’re still asleep, with eyes half-open as usual. They spent all night catching up with Doug, “Nia” and lots of other Fié-fans in an impromptu reunion, and now Tony wants his due.



**679. Shall  
“Promise me you shan’t give too much of your time again to those people?” Tony asks when, after Fié’s been dragged into wakefulness, however grumpily, he manages to coax them into the cusp of ecstacy. Unfortunately, though arching up to chase completion, trapped in his hold, Fié _still_ says nothing.

**680. Quit  
“I won’t quit till you promise,” Tony gasps after he’s brought Fié to ecstatic completion seven times more, in various ways. Unfortunately, Fié seems to be good under torture, however sweet… or maybe they’re just knackered. Either way, they’re _still_ silent, promise-wise. ` _You’re not a quitter either, huh? Damn._ `


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the strains of a shadow war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for those of you who commented, liked and read up to this point. The support is what makes me go on with this story, by now, since my muse is no longer looking at this direction and propelling it onward by herself. I hate to abandon stories, though, so thank you very, very much for all the support.  
> And now, although the content mightn't be as light as you and I wish for, happy reading! ☺  
> Rey
> 
>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 692: _Teens:_ Mild Sensitive Topic  
> Piece 699: _Heavy Teens:_ References to Sexual Content  
> Piece 700: _Heavy Teens:_ References to Sexual Content

**Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia, Middle-End of March 2016**

  1. 681\. Obfuscation  
HYDRA uses lots of obfuscation in their operations. Well, Tony’s folks, _too_. And this shadow war’s terribly taxing, as all wars are. No fatalities, _yet_ but lots of injuries; not only to this informal alliance, either. And this means that, once more, the family’s scattered all over Earth and beyond.



  1. 682\. Resemblance  
Farvangr replaces Fié, since Fié’s in peril here, can’t leave Ýmirheim for long, and time runs much faster there. “Add your other half and you’ll be set as siblings, with this one on the middle,” Clint laughs and grins when they’re introduced. “The resemblance is there already. Creepy. Kinky, though.”



  1. 683\. Resonance  
There’s a… resonance that Tony feels with Farvangr, different from his relationship with Fié. Farvangr – Ava, they insist to be called – can predict and match him for a good degree, and vice versa. Tony wonders if this is what being part of twins is like. He’s going to ask Vovo.



  1. 684\. Keepsake  
“What’s that?” Tony wonders, when he’s interrogating Vovo and notices a fiery-red, slightly glowing, unevenly cut stone peek out from Chan-Chan’s T-shirt, set as pendant beside the ring Voðen gave her forever ago on a thin necklace. She stares at him long and deeply, then says simply, “Keepsake. From friend.”



  1. 685\. Namesake  
“Little Tony, meet Tony,” Laura, Clint’s wife, says cheerfully when she drops by at Tony’s current base. On Tony’s uncomprehending look, she grins and chirps, “I’m pregnant! I decided to name the baby Tony, whatever the sex is. You did much for our family already. Clint will just accept it.”



  1. 686\. Firebrand  
“Y’know how much a firebrand she is, Stark?” Clint grimaces when Tony confronts him about the namesake business. “She does what she wants. She’s rarely bad with her reasons… and she had much taken from her, when she’s with the Red Room. Names got less meaning for me, anyway.”



**Los Angeles, California, United States, End of March 2016**

  1. 687\. Blatant  
The new and _supposedly_ improved board of directors of SI, appointed by Pepper after _supposedly_ thorough screening, show their blatant _greed_ to anex Tony’s “free-floating companies” in their next physical meeting, now that his hotel chain’s suddenly received lots of guests after the positive press the Bali one received.



  1. 688\. Castigation  
None of Tony’s castigations manages to shake the directors’ insistence that the hygiene-based group, hotel chain and farm-tech company be merged under Stark Industries, not even under Stark International – its parent organisation. Tony resorts to pointing out that these companies are either more for CSR or his own selfishness.



**Malibu, California, United States, End of March 2016**

  1. 689\. Cairn  
It is _more_ than _horrifying_ ,and _heart-squeezing_ , when Tony returns from the board meeting only to find the dinosaur-hybrid _children_ writing a _will_ for themselves, by help of JARVIS, containing the distribution of their handful of worldly possessions, and also the treatment of their remains – piled in a cairn, most choose.



  1. 690\. Clear  
It’s clear now that, though they behaved like nothing could’ve moved them, the hybrid children have been impacted _extra severely_ by the various attempts to kill them, remove their custody from their parent figures, or shun them from society. But who can help in this? Child psychologists would freak out!



  1. 691\. Derivative  
Rústla’s chosen a _very, very wrong_ time to bring out their snarky remark _again_ about how derivative, insular and therefore one-track-minded Earth society is. Tony boots them out of _all_ his residences, for that, despite the fact that he still keeps their spouses with him. Not even Fié’s cajoling helps.



*692. Queer  
Owen Grady loves animals. But apparently he _also_ loves someone who handles animals closely, because he’s caught giving Henry Wu – the “parent” of the Lockwood-estate-originated hybrid children – lots of attention when the latter’s not looking. Clint calls him queer, so Tony bans Clint from his properties, _too_. Grady looks baffled….

  1. 693\. Colleague  
“He didn’t mean to insult me, y’know,” Grady says carefully when Clint’s gone and he’s managed to corner Tony. “He’s just joking. We’re colleagues, friends, so why not? The kids heard, yes, most likely, but I could always explain to them. This way, _Clint’s_ kids are without their dad, too.”



  1. 694\. Incorrigible  
Tasha _deliberately_ tells Tony that he’s an incorrigible scatterbrain who’s on track to megalomania. He apparently surprises her by just raising an eyebrow and moving away without a thought or a word in response. But he catches her constant attention on him, afterwards, so he _deliberately_ provides little to observe.



  1. 695\. Sweep  
Hammond’s on his death-bed and wishes _the island-park_ to be revived. Tony stares dumbly at him for a _long_ while. Then, finally, he bursts out, “You saw the numbers of deaths and you know how aweful the world’s situation is and you want to sweep it _all_ under the rug?”



  1. 696\. Innovation  
The new island-park’s to be an innovation: an amalgamation between a natural preserve, thrilling-and-educative zoo, amusement park, research centre, holiday resort, and museum. It’d mean the island-park must be _totally_ overhauled. Tony’s _even more stressed_ , just knowing it. He holds his tongue _only_ because the Murphies are there and _hopeful_.



**Ýmirheim, Beginning-Middle of April 2016**

  1. 697\. Intake  
“There’s enough intake of stress for you already,” Pepper remarks when she finds Tony feverishly sketching the new layout of the park-island. “Go be with your other half. Get a fresh view. Cool down. Jurassic Park will still be there when you come back, most likely.” So Tony goes.



  1. 698\. In-Laws  
Fié’s not alone, when Tony joins them. “My sire, Boluðúrna,” they say, indicating the slightly larger, far older milaða seated beside them on the nest. Tony’s heart falls. ` _Oh, damn. I’ve got a **father** -in-law, still. Now what are they going to do to me?_` Fortunately, Anga comes in, then….



*699. Sleep  
By the time Anga’s finished heaping problems after concerns after plans after changes on Tony, the latter’s ready to drop asleep _wherever_. Fortunately, Fié rescues him. _Un_ fortunately, Fié’s _also_ competitive, vengeful and oh so _cruel_. It’s a long, long, long time before Tony can really go to sleep, totally exhausted.

*700. Cuddle  
For a fearsome-looking, fearsome-sounding people, the milaðen so love to _cuddle_. The nest is so very full, when Fié reopens it for others, after they’re done torturing Tony with an overdose of sweetness and there’s no more trace of it anywhere. Limbs tangle with limbs, and body press with body.

  1. 701\. Cranky  
Tony’s never a morning person. Being in an alien body and in a planet where night is day and day is night doesn’t change the fact. On top of it, Fié and Anga drill him about the latest situation on Earth. He’s one cranky glorified monarch’s stud during the audience….




	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the adventures of co-ruling a planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update came about by **mist_shadow** ’s encouragement – thank you! And, by their request, there’s more “Lolo” for you. Enjoy! And I’d be grateful if you’d suggest more single-worded or single-phrased prompts for me, since I’m running out of those. Thank you! - Rey
> 
>  **Warning for:** Piece 716: _Teens:_ Reference to Capital Punishment

**Ýmirheim, Beginning-Middle of April 2016 (Ctd.)**

  1. 702\. Claustrophobic  
Fié apparently _still_ thinks that sleeping in a small cave with only a small opening and nobody around for miles and miles could be a nice treat for Tony, after a hellish day he’s had, impotently “brooding” over multiple problems. Well, now they know _for sure_ how claustrophobic Tony _is_.



  1. 703\. Cloister  
Tony cloisters himself with various forces tasked to restore Ýmirheim, wishing to solve at least _one single problem_ that he _should_ be able to solve. But, in the back of his mind, a plan – bold and mad, maybe – is forming, to take back the “Casket of Ancient Winters” from Asgard.



  1. 704\. Blink  
“Why doesn’t Amma just ask Ýto Ðinyé to fetch the Anchor?” Lasla pipes up at the end of Tony’s presentation on what he’s going to do to fetch the Anchor, during their prescribed “family time” in the nest. And Tony can… just… blink. ` _Why didn’t I think of it before?_ `



  1. 705\. Mug  
There’s a mug of ever-warm spiced chocolate on the table by the door when Tony wakes up. There’s a plate of warm, lumpy choco-chip biscuits beside it. And there are a pair of reserved, subdued, timid midgets standing nervously by the table, _not_ staring at him. “You made those, Lolo?”



  1. 706\. Cherish  
“Hmmmm.” Tony exaggeratedly relishes the chocolate, in-between nibbling at the biscuits. And he _does_ cherish them, knowing that this is the first time ever Lolo willingly reach out, _together_ , and they’re even semi-willingly gathered on his lap, now. Considering that _both_ were separately and severely abused just two years ago….



  1. 707\. Swear  
Tony swears in his new Ýmirheimi advisory board in the Capital’s meeting field with all solemnity. How not? This past _month_ , Fié – the damn _Leaf_ – has continuously drilled him about how sacred oaths are in Ýmirheim and for its people. And it took _that long_ to write _this_ oath, too.



  1. 708\. Whirl  
Fié’s way of assuring the milaðen that Tony means no harm to the realm, its citizens and its ruler by having his own advisory board for everything is to whirl him in an impromptu dance fest _right after_ the oath-taking, which is reported _live_ to everywhere for everyone to see.



  1. 709\. Pin  
Ýmirheim doesn’t recognise pins and medals as badges of honour. It does have certain rare colours and non-metal decorations to denote rank, though, as those are… well, rare, and expensive, but wearable, thus prestigious. Rather primitive, in Tony’s opinion, but he’s learnt to keep his mouth shut, yes he has!



  1. 710\. Riddle  
Fié claims that Tony’s on the verge of a stress-induced breakdown _again_ , working so long and so much with the new board of advisors. They hustle him away to be “cured.” And the medicine is… exchanging riddles? “Seriously, _Leaf_? _Riddles_? Can you get any dorkier?” He’s called “Riddle,” for that….



  1. 711\. Clink  
Counting money and other treasures in the treasury is so very _amusing_. “S’a real treasure cave! Neat!” Tony exclaims while wading happily among the variously coloured, sized, shaped and formed coins that clink together on the disturbance. Then he goes further by _swimming_ among them…. “I’m Tony McDuck today!”



  1. 712\. Fork  
Tony takes particular delight in banning fork usage from the dining hall, after somebody tried to assassinate Lolo using one. He _doesn’t_ relish it, though, when Fié sets him up to teach _everyone_ the use of chopsticks as replacement. “You can do it too. Why don’t we do it together?”



  1. 713\. Swirl  
There’s less time for relaxation but more need for one, as Fié’s rooting out the conspiracy that birthed the assassination attempt. Remembering the many archived sketches, Tony proposes drawing as stress management. He regrets watching Fié make seemingly random swirls with paint on a piece of paper, though. So dizzying!



  1. 714\. Defunct  
“Fié… what’d happen _if_ Lolo died. And the babies, too?” – “I would likely go berserk.” – “Other than that?” – “My line would end.” – “And?” – “The high monarchy would likely go defunct, as it was my ancestors who unified Ýmirheim through all the separate tribes.” – “Oh. Umm. Is that… a bad thing?”



  1. 715\. Indecipherable  
Fié’s look at _that_ question is indecipherable. Tony winces. “Aside from the bloodshed, really,” he hastily continues. But Fié makes a slashing gesture across their throat, and his mouth clicks shut. And then, he remembers that, in his so-called past life as Farbauti, he was accused of _leading a coup_.



*716. Gloat  
The prisoners that Týo and their team netted are… talkative. They gloat despite their failure, and boast despite their _literal_ impending doom. It doesn’t matter to Tony. Except that they claim _Farbauti_ will lead them through _another_ coup. He counter-attacks by proclaiming that he’s _most content_ with the status quo.

  1. 717\. For  
The information and Tony’s proclamation _leaked_. The public demands that “Farbauti” prove their claim. Tony makes his first public speech, then, pointing out all that he has done _for them **and** his spouse_. But he does it not for those ungrateful sheeple. No, he does it for the distressed Fié.



  1. 718\. Cornered  
Away without _visible_ guards in an effort to calm down, Tony’s instead cornered by so-called “Farbauti’s people.” They want him as the monarch, naturally. Equally naturally, he tells them – sarcastically but in no uncertain way – that he has no thought _whatsoever_ of being tied down to rule such ungrateful people.



  1. 719\. Combine  
“They are afraid of your _combined_ power, Úti. You and Fié are quite a force, when you are united, and so they seek to separate you… in any way possible,” Anga says softly when they saw how Tony tries _so hard_ not to explode before the children, in their nest-time.



  1. 720\. Takeover  
Tony corners Fié when the children – including the babies – are fast asleep and Anga plus family have given them room to talk. “We need to stage a takeover,” he says, inspired by Anga’s insight. “We need to shock them all, put them on the wrong foot, turn them upside-down, whatever.”



  1.     1.       1. 721\. King  
Fié gives Tony an unreadable stare for the longest time. “Are you going to rest the rule from me?” And Tony stares back, huffing, _disbelieving_. “I did it _all_ , and you’re still asking if I’d like to be king or something? Of course _not_. It’s too much work. Boring, besides.”




	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the non-romantic other half of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings for:**  
>  Piece 726: _Heavy Teens:_ Reference to Sexual Activity  
> Piece 732: _Heavy Teens:_ Implied Graphic Violence  
> Piece 734: _Heavy teens:_ Implied Graphic Violence  
> Piece 735: _Teens:_ Character Death

**Ýmirheim, Beginning-Middle of April 2016 (Ctd. 2)**

  1. 722\. Rattle  
Apparently, Tony needn’t stage a false coup or the like, because the threat of a planet-wide uprising has subsided _again_ after his vehement declaration to the so-called “Farbauti’s faithful followers.” “Just give them a recording of my voice, then, if they misbehave again. That’ll rattle them,” he tells Fié flippantly.



  1. 723\. Trust  
Anga’s shocked, when Tony says he’s returning to Earth to check in with his “non-romantic other half” and receive news about the turmoils there. “Well, I’m trusting you with Fié and the kids,” he tells them, for once _quite_ seriously. “Be fetching’em back soon. Pro’ly gonna keep the kids away.”



**Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, Middle of April 2016**

  1. 724\. Hide-and-Seek  
The sharp change of climate, temperature and milieu isn’t the only thing that throws Tony aback for a while when he reunites with his other half of the family. Playing hide-and-seek with the littler children contributes heavily to that. Such a game, after a far deadlier game played on Ýmirheim….



  1. 725\. Kit  
Remembering what’s been going on on Ýmirheim all this time, Tony makes, arranges and assigns protection and survival kits for _everyone_. He uses the chance to apologise to Rústla and Clint, and _also_ to pick their brains about how to improve the kits. He _needs_ them _all_ safe and sound.



*726. Tentacles  
Sirius Black dumps a pile of Japanese comics on Tony’s desk one day. “Wank materials. Y’need to loosen up, mate. You’re a prickly bloke otherwise,” he says. Tony’s worried. Black’s _still_ half-unhinged, after all. But he peruses the comics, anyway… and huffs disappointedly. “Why’d people get turned on by _tentacles_?”

  1. 727\. Paper  
Lina – one of the two smaller, black dinosaur-hybrid children – is _so. Very. Happy_ that she _at last_ can pick up and fold a piece of paper without getting her claws out and tearing it or making a hole in it. Tony celebrates her achievement by teaching her about basic origami.



  1. 728\. Boring  
Tony ends up being tasked _by the children_ to arrange a non-boring activity for them all, after hearing about Lina’s fun with origami. Daunted, he dumps the task on the womenfolk and skedaddles back to Ýmirheim. Unfortunately, Fié agrees with the children and boots him back. Now he can’t escape….



**The United Kingdom, End of April 2016**

  1. 729\. Tweak  
The bonding sessions with the children are a fortifying holiday. Tony’s deep in planning with the top-of-the-top of the rescued magical folk right afterwards, regretably. They’re tweaking their options, allowing a middle-ground path that might work, based on his experiences in Ýmirheim. One way or another, UK will be terrorist-free.



  1. 730\. Retaliation  
Tony’s _so, so tempted_ to go for an-eye-for-an-eye kind of retaliation against the Wizarding terrorists, after reading the latest intel from the few brave souls still left in the country. He wouldn’t recover if he got into the same depravations that they do, though, so he restrains himself, with effort.



**Diagon Alley, London, United Kingdom, End of April 2016**

  1. 731\. On Stage  
Tony gets on stage at the totally deserted Diagon Alley, figuratively and literally, once everyone’s ready and in place. He does what he does best: whipping up the listeners into a frenzy. He needs the terrorists to be _solely_ focused on him, for the ambush to work. And it _works_.



*732. Tarnish  
It’s hard to imagine that the Alley’s once a cheerful, bustling marketplace. It’s already a grim, deserted medieval street when Tony firstly visited it. And now, it’s a _slaughterhouse_ , as two sides of the same hidden community battle it out, _right before him_. And if even _his_ memory is tarnished….

  1. 733\. Hollow  
“I won’t be able to look at this place the same way again,” Nymphadora Tonks murmurs at the end of the battle, with the unexpected death of the terrorists’ leader Voldemort. She sounds hollow, looks hollow, and Tony bets that she feels hollow. Because even _he_ , an outsider, feels hollow.



*734. Evidence  
“What for?! Tony squawks when Neuolvir presents him Voldemort’s _severed head_. “I’m not some barbaric tribal chiftain! Well, the goblins aren’t barbaric, but _still_! Not gonna mount _that_ as any kind of decoration!” And, to that, the oft-unnerving, grim, silent, oft-distant milaða assassin says only one phrase, implacably: “Undeniable evidence.”

*735. Best  
“We did our best to prepare. You did your best to get him back on his feet. He did his best to make the world good again, in memory of his godson,” Nymphadora Tonks says softly, when Tony finds her looking down at the body of her cousin Sirius Black.

**The Rescue on Orbit of Earth, Beginning of May 2016**

  1. 736\. Exact  
It’s hard to get the exact number and addresses of the magical people living in the United Kingdom – or rather, the _Wizarding_ version of the United Kingdom. Not even the archives in the British “Ministry of Magic” contain everything. Tony and co still try, though, to begin the rebuilding efforts.



  1. 737\. Weapon  
“You’re mad! Not even the Minister of Magic got a problem with his visitors keeping their wands with them!” Tony hears Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge squawk when Neuolvir confiscates her wand. He feels strangely proud when Neuolvir answers her with, “No weapon is allowed in the presence of the Royal Family.”



  1. 738\. Outdated  
Tony ends up sending Undersecretary Umbridge back to Neuolvir _for interrogation_ instead of having further meeting with her, after he hears the things that she spouts. “We’re gonna get rid of _all_ the outdated things before we rebuild the community,” he mutters. “Starting from… _those_. What a sick little _toad_.”



  1. 739\. Fortress  
“You’re truly a fortress, aren’t you?” Tony doesn’t know whether to admire or pity Chan-Chan, as she and Voðen have been aiding the displaced, hurt and separated magical folks in various ways since the latest Wizarding UK’s war ended. “Your old self’s mom named you too well.” ‘Strong Fortress’, indeed….



  1. 740\. Figment  
“Please don’t tell me that he’s just a figment of my imagination,” Hermione Granger, one of the brave souls who had stayed in UK in the dark days of Voldemort’s reign of terror, begs when Tony, carrying Lolo in each arm, passes by her in the hallways of the _Rescue_.



  1. 741\. Soft Pink  
Tony stares into Granger’s desperate eyes and relents. He ushers her into his living quarters, one of the safest places in the _Rescue_. She waves spastically at Lolo and asks, “Which one is Harry?” Tony raises an eyebrow and shrugs. “The one wearing soft pink.” And it’s both of them.



  1. 742\. Dressed  
“But both are dressed the sa–!” Granger raises her fists and voice, and winces when Lolo shrink away. Tony gives her his most unimpressed look. “Tell me, missy,” he says, “why’d I answer you? Where were you when your friend became a scapegoat?” He doesn’t expect her to ball….



  1. 743\. Class  
“You know in which _class_ I was, in the Wizarding World,” Granger glugs when she’s moderately calmer. “I _tried_! A few others, too. And we started outright war instead. We’re hunted by both sides, after that.” And, seated on Tony’s right thigh, Loki-who-was-Harry stares at her with wide, horrified eyes.



  1.     1.       1.         1.           1. 744\. Precious  
Tony hastily spirits Lolo away; not only to silence the babbling Granger, but also to save Loki-who-was-Harry from further upsets. Fié will _kill_ him, _literally_ , spouse or not, if any of their precious babies got harmed under his care. In fact, he’d better return Lolo to their mum, _right now_.




	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and what comes next.

General warning for: mild swearing

**Warnings for:** Piece 755: _Heavy Teens:_ implied sexual content

**The Rescue on Orbit of Earth, Beginning of May 2016 (Ctd.)**

  1.     1.       1.         1. 745\. Syntax  
Learning the syntax, phrasing combinations and other nitty-gritties of magicwork runes falls flat, faced with the recent battle and all the unpleasantness that came after. Tony meant to distract himself with studying, after soothing Lolo and stowing them away in bed, but Hermione Granger’s stricken look won’t stop haunting him.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 746\. Curtain  
Tony critiques Fié’s present floor-length, undefined-but-decorated robe with a wan smile: “It’s a curtain, not a dress, Leaf.” The exasperating-but-sometimes-adorable milaða only has eyes and voice for their subdued Lolo, though. Well, Tony doesn’t mind it, this time. Lolo’s condition is his fault for the most part. Damn Hermione Granger.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 747\. Cage  
“We escaped our cages and now you’re putting us into cages _here_?” Granger hisses like a scalded cat as a pair of milaðen usher her into the single-occupancy isolation room. Tony shakes his head. “For your protection until we reach Earth and can provide you with healing,” he explains exasperatedly.



**Malibu, California, United States, Beginning of May 2016**

  1.     1.       1.         1. 748\. Playful  
Tony persuades Fié to loose Lolo among the other children on disembarkation. What convinces the overprotective mum isn’t his persuasion, though, but the sight of the hybrid children gathering warily but hopefully by the ramp leading out of the _Rescue_ , and the other children playfully jostling each other farther back.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 749\. Chatter  
“Come home, Afa,” Fié wheedles for the umpteenth time, masked by the subdued chatter of the diners and the rumbling-and-shushing of the waves. And again, Tony shakes his head. He can’t visit Ýmirheim yet, and the prat knows it well. His grim business with the British magical world is on-going.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 750\. Duration  
In the end, Fié gives Tony an ultimatum: Be in Ýmirheim for the duration of an Earth’s month by next week, or be abducted to spend two months there. Tony doesn’t cave because of the stern tone, though, but the pleading in those green eyes. “Damn you, Leaf,” he huffs.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 751\. Daunting  
Assisting the remnants of the British magical community to recover is just as daunting as doing the same to Ýmirheim, in Tony’s opinion. This community’s much smaller, true, but people are yet too shaken to move the recovery along themselves, while there’s no time to let them grieve. Damn ultimatum.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 752\. Shield  
While on a break from brainstorming what to do with the British magical community, Tasha snoops round SHIELD and finds more unknown-but-interesting things. The projects seem benign, thankfully. But Ýoluti, who is there to fetch Tony and all the sprogs on the deadline, gasps when they spy a particular image.



**Ýmirheim, Middle of May 2016**

  1.     1.       1.         1. 753\. Hard Snow  
“What were you surprised about?” Tony prods when he and Ýoluti descend the ramp and tread on the coating of hard snow in their milaða forms. The granny pretends to be busy herding the kiddies, though, and doing that in so obscure a manner that Tony can’t confront them outright.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 754\. Veil  
Fié’s equally surprised, when Tony describes the image that Ýoluti freaked out about. And they’re _equally_ mute, when he asks what it’s all about. Damn. And they’re equally wily, _too_ , because they then spirit him across the planet via ship, to witness moonrise from behind a veil of half-crystalised water.



*755. Naked  
Tony returns to his earlier train of thought, after witnessing the admitedly spectacular view of rich silvery light glimmering and glinting off and through the thin curtain of ever-flowing water. But his thought-wagon’s derailed again when he notices that he _and_ Fié are naked, now, and Fié’s busy exciting him.

  1.     1.       1.         1. 756\. Tell  
“You’ve got to tell me soon, you know. I’ll never stop. You’ll run out of excuses long before I give up,” Tony purs smirkingly into Fié’s ear, nuzzling it for added effect, as they lie entangled in each other in the thankfully empty-and-already-homified cave hidden behind the veil of water.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 757\. Master  
“You have to master the current problems, first, before you invite more problems to come home,” is Fié’s grumpy reply to the veiled demand, which makes Tony interested instead of wary. “The image didn’t look like it’s a problem. So, ‘matter’ would be more apt, wouldn’t it?” he muses aloud.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 758\. Convey  
The look that Fié gives Tony next conveys many, many things, exasperation and grudging acknowledgement chief of all. In turn, Tony hopes that his little smirk conveys just as many, most of which are triumph and determination. And then, before Fié can distract him again, he immediately pursues more information.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 759\. Separate  
In the end, for all the effort, Fié brings Tony to… somewhere unremarkable some distance away from the Capital, which is a cave amidst so many caves dotting a sturdy cliff formation. There’s something _quite_ remarkable that separates this cave from the others, though. “It’s the construct from the image!”



  1.     1.       1.         1. 760\. Gate  
“It is a gate, Afa, not a construct. And lower your voice, please. The echo is very annoying,” Fié grumbles, while Tony fawns over the huge stone ring standing vertically on a nook far removed from the opening to the cave. He frowns quizzically. “Doesn’t look like it,” he observes.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 761\. Ancient  
“It is,” Fié insists. “A few million years ago, a friendly exploration ship visited us and stayed with us for some time. The crew modified one of their portal generators for interrealm travel and installed one here, as gift.” Tony gawks and blurts out, “Whoa, millions of years! Ancient, that!”



  1.     1.       1.         1. 762\. Move  
“The inner and outer rings are moved when one wishes to set up a destination,” Fié explains when Tony asks how to activate the strange gate. “One can only go to a place where one of these gates have been installed and still operational. The travel is… quite an experience.”



**Malibu, California, United States, End of June 2016**

  1.     1.       1.         1. 763\. Cheerless  
Having somewhat reluctantly left Ýmirheim and the newly-named babies Belaumir and Belýðar, Tony finds that, as gloomy as Ýmirheim is still after years of effort, his Malibu home – a refugee camp, currently – is practically cheerless. And from the odd damages all round, stress—and-trauma-induced accidental outbursts of power are abundant.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 764\. Grey  
“We can’t rebuild till they’re all healed,” Clint observes when one of the refugees freaks out on being approached with _just_ a grey tumbler of water. “And I’m beginning to suspect they won’t as long as they’re still here. On Earth, I mean.” Tony raises an eyebrow to the assessment.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 765\. Pure  
“They went through pure hell for a long time,” Cap agrees to the assessment. “I read the reports, about how Holocaust victims recovered after they’re freed. Many of’em became skittish for the remainder of their lives. But, maybe, if they got the chance to live in a planet by themselves….”



  1.     1.       1.         1. 766\. Better  
“Do you honestly think that _uprooting them_ is better?” Tony’s flabbergasted. “Won’t it traumatise them _further_?” But this time, it’s Laura who pipes in, ponderingly, “An uninhabited planet… temperate climate… not dangerous… far away… well-defended… just for myself and my family…. I’d pay _lots_ for that, and I mean it.”



  1.     1.       1.         1. 767\. Choice  
“It’s got to be their own choice, though,” Clint reminds his wife. “It’s been taken away from them all too often. Till then, maybe we could try contact some of their kind over here for some counselling? I could help snoop round to find one. There must be a way.”



  1.     1.       1.         1. 768\. Rumpled  
An energetic, sharp, bubbly man in rumpled clothes finds the home-turned-refugee-camp before Clint can conduct his self-appointed mission: Sherlock Holmes, younger brother of Mycroft Holmes, who Tony knows runs the British government behind the scene. Ironically, apparently Sherlock Holmes is _also_ the detective guy Tony got the deerstalker-hat inspiration from.



  1.     1.       1.         1. 769\. Sour  
Sherlock Holmes _never shuts up_ , even worse than Tony himself. In just an hour, he’s managed to piss off _everyone_ in the property in one way or another. It turns _worse_ when Fié and the sprogs flood in, unable to keep away for long. Then Fié makes a sour remark….



  1.     1.       1. 770\. Neon Green  
…And dearest, darling, honey-bunny Natalie McDonald acts on it: turning Mr. Sherlock Foot-in-the-mouth-Train-wreck Holmes _neon green_ , from head to toe. Everyone cheers… until the prat changes his trajectory accordingly by pestering all and sundry about how the phenomenon is achieved. Fed up, Tony phones the prat’s brother to fetch him.




	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and his stop-gap solutions.

General warnings for: violence, bad prisoner treatment, sexual allusions

**Warnings for:**  
Piece 779: _Heavy Teens:_ semi-graphic violence  
Piece 780: _Explicit:_ violence, graphic death of a child

Chapter notes: The OC Sai’yo is from my story _A Reason to Live_. And here comes the new fandom, officially.

**Los Angeles, California, United States, 17th August 2016**

  1. 771\. Wooden  
“The government failed you, and you still want to celebrate its independence day?” Tony inquires, baffled, when Chan-Chan’s about to go attend the event. She, now somehow back in her handicapped-human form, gives him a wooden look from behind her bottle-bottom specs. Then she says softly, “Governments change. Nations don’t.”



  1. 772\. Space  
Chan-Chan’s assertion gives Tony an idea about what the human magicals he helped rescue should do first of all: Wherever they end up living, the new government and society must be conducive for _healthy_ living. The space can wait, especially since they seem to have a penchant for space expansion.



**Malibu, California, United States, 18th August 2016**

  1. 773\. Demand  
It’s _irritating_ , to apply for assistance to the magical version of the UN and be replied with _demands_ to hand the _severely traumatised_ refugees over to them and forget things ever happening. Tony cuts off the lobbying effort right on the first try and prepares to ship the refugees away.



**Spaceskiff on Travel Outside the Solar System, Beginning of September 2016**

  1. 774\. Scarf  
The refugees booted Tony out – with profuse thanks – after he delivered them to their next temporary home in Antarctica. Fié suggested he roam before he explodes. So here he is: fingering the scarf the refugees gave him while staring at the starfield beyond the spaceskiff, on the way to who-knows-where.



**Chulak, Middle-End of September 2016**

  1. 775\. Capture  
Tony’s been travelling light, person-wise though not logistically. He’s accompanied only by four milaða guards, Ýmirheim’s second-best commando team. And he’s spent long enough wandering. He’s about to return home, in fact, when he’s separated from the guards and got captured by soldiers with some snake symbol on their helmets.



  1. 776\. Raucous  
Knowing that Fié’d kill him after overturning the galaxy to rescue him if he _really_ got kidnapped, Tony tries to escape his captors time and time again, making quite a raucous noise each time to alert his guards of where he is. But the snake-helmeted soldiers are so _never-ending_ , skill-and-number-wise!



  1. 777\. Hirsute  
It’s incongruous and ludicrus, maybe, but in moments like this Tony wishes he were Chewbakka from _Star Wars_. However tall and strong he is now, he bets that hirsute guy could knock these tenacious soldiers like bowling ball on some poor pins! Then again, a lightsabre would do well, too!



  1. 778\. Communicate  
However often he communicates mentally with the milaðen, Tony’s still rather unaccustomed to it. It’s a boon, though, now, as he’s stripped from everything – including communication devises – and redressed in a single robe. ` _Too many soldiers on the way. Don’t come yet. Wait for my signal,_ ` he tells his guards.



*779. Hostage  
“What are you?” the interrogator barks for the umpteenth time. Grasped by his hand is a little boy’s neck, and he _squeezes_ it when Tony refuses to answer yet again. Glancing at the helpless, _hopeless_ look of the little hostage, Tony snaps at last, “A person! Now let him go!”

**780. Horror  
The snap of the little boy’s neck breaking is _sickening_. Tony sees red. But the horror-induced berserker moment sadly doesn’t last long, when faced with a roomful of numerous _skilled_ soldiers. However many he kills, more replace them. And, no longer berserking, Tony feels _sickened_ by his own kill count.

  1. 781\. Heal  
Tony isn’t allowed long to heal and stew alone. Somebody calling himself Apophis likes to come to taunt, torture and pry things out of him. Worse yet is the _lust_ that Apophis likes to stare at him with, also the questions hinting about _a milaða_ being trapped here with him.



  1. 782\. Swim  
Desperation lends clarity and strength. Tony’s mind swims free from fear-horror-panic-worry-fury, and he _plots_. He was able to escape a cave with minimal assistance and preparation, so why not now? He can only hope that the half-milaða turned snake-helmeted soldier that Apophis shoves into his cell will _live_ , unlike Yinsen.



  1. 783\. Otherwise  
Tony’s new cellmate is a reserved, wary, even skittish two-hundred-year-old “Jaffa” named Sai’yo. He interrogates them – _gently, gently, gently_ – mentally, otherwise silent. Apophis claims himself a “generous god” and Sai’yo’s a “gift” for Tony to do what he wishes before he becomes Apopis’ new “host.” Tony _seethes_ , even more sickened.



  1. 784\. Ethical  
Apophis tortures Sai’yo in front of Tony, when Tony refuses to do anything to the “Jaffa” except to exchange brief words. “Take him for your pleasure, and he will be spared,” the “god” says at the end of each session. It’s not ethical, though, let alone _right_ , so Tony refuses.



  1. 785\. Tickle  
Sai’yo becomes weaker and weaker. Tony’s conviction begins to waver, ironically in concern for the poor half-milaða caught in his troubles. To distract both of them from this problem, Tony shares select stories about the sprogs with them, mind-to-mind, such as the tickle war, the water-gun war, the sleepy pile-ups….



  1. 786\. Right vs. Easy  
It’s so easy to do whatever to Sai’yo now, they’re so helpless and discouraged, ironically after Tony shares his domestic stories with them. Still not _right_ , though. Tony knows well it’s a psychological war, and Apophis is trying to soften him up for whatever that madman wants to do next.



  1. 787\. Sender  
` _Reinforcements have arrived, Aslakonnar,_ ` comes the mental message one day, and the sender is _a quietly wrathful Týo_. Cuddling Sai’yo at one corner of the cell to give the image of him giving in to any voyeur out there, Tony allows himself a slow, wolfish grin, hidden in Sai’yo’s hair.



  1. 788\. Doormat  
Despite all the meekness and skittishness, Sai’yo’s apparently far from being a doormat. When soldiers come to drag Tony without them in tow, apparently for “implantation ceremony,” they… do something, darting about _so fast_ , and both prisoners end up with a group of dead Jaffa and a pile of weapons.



  1. 789\. Dumb  
Tony’s very, very, very glad that the unplanned breakout that he and Sai’yo have agreed to follow through on unspoken consensus turns out _not_ to be a dumb idea, for once. It’s a _good_ idea, in fact, as they’re encountering the _friendly_ reinforcements just as things begin to look hopeless.



  1.     1.       1.         1.           1. 790\. Pillow Talk  
` _I am **not** letting you out of my sight **ever again** ,_` Fié hisses vehemently as they cuddle close with Tony on his bunk in the spaceskiff he’s been using to roam the galaxy. He sighs and glares. What an _un_ romantic pillow talk after such a lousy end to his adventure!




	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and the slow road to recovery.

General warning for: aftermath of and recovery from traumatic captivity

Credit to: The fanfiction story _It’s Not the Raptor DNA_ by **SkullsandDuggery** for the name Elise for the big white dinosaur hybrid

**Stark Tower, New York, United States, 2nd October 2016**

  1. 791\. Persistence  
“Afa, you were rescued from a horrendous situation mere days ago!” Fié sighs, exasperated. Tony shrugs, continuing to dress himself for Chan-Chan’s birthday party, carefully not looking at his worrywart lover. His persistence might make them relent, if it lingers long enough. He doesn’t really want to do this, but….



  1. 792\. Excuse  
Tony sits by the _unguarded_ door that he _knows_ leads to a _functional and unobstructed_ bank of lifts. He watches a bewilderedly happy Chan-Chan revelling in her surprise birthday party from that uncustomary place, and tells Pepper excuses when she tries to draw him out. He’s just… not there _yet_.



  1. 793\. Far Beyond  
“What I had while in that place, it’s far beyond Afghanistan,” Tony confesses at last while cuddling Fié close, long after the party. “Strange. Good. Bad. Glad – _relieved_ – mostly. Nobody died for me. But that Apophis guy was so… unhinged. Even worse than the Ten Rings _combined_ ,” he babbles on.



  1. 794\. Likely  
“Thought it’s just like Afghanistan. Thought the demand’s likely about tech, n’I could make a weapon to break free that way.” His voice wavers, but Tony can’t care less about it. He’s on a roll. “Thought _I_ could save my cellmate… but they saved _me_ instead. I was so _useless_.”



**Antarctica, 20th October 2016**

  1. 795\. Task  
Various people have been tasked to distract Tony from further thoughts of his captivity, it seems. Day and night, he’s _always_ accompanied by someone or three. Fié’s rarely with him, but Sai’yo – Fié’s unknown first cousin, apparently, child of their long-lost aunt – is always there, and it’s a comfort, surprisingly.



  1. 796\. Ebb  
Tony begins to explore the land with various things, once the trauma has ebbed slightly. The open spaces are confusingly both daunting and freeing, but he does appreciate the lack of _soldiers_ tailing him, though they’re friendlies. He appreciates his anonymity, too, here: He’s just another broken person among many.



  1. 797\. Control  
The latest exploration nets Tony an ancient structure buried deep beneath the layers of ice, soil and rocks, also a portable portal and a few frozen bodies. It’s an outpost of a people called the Alterans, who also built the portable portals, according to Ýoluti. Tony sets to controlling it.



**Ýmirheim, November 2016**

  1. 798\. Programme  
Tony feels like he _needs_ to be in charge of something – _anything_ – tangible, and restoring the Alteran outpost took too little time to finish. So now he’s _really_ trying to restore Ýmirheim to _better_ than its old glory. Accordingly, he churns out programmes with his family and board of advisors.



  1. 799\. Lucrative  
Ýmirheim’s made a lucrative business selling arts, ores and pearls. Tony uses the funding to jump-start new-and-improved farms and build vessels to transport the produces safely and efficiently. But he _also_ sets aside funding from his own coffers for a fleet of small-but-sharp battleships. He hasn’t forgotten Chulak, _at all_.



  1. 800\. Slavery  
“They never tried to help you when their ‘god’ wanted me to _rape_ you, and now you want me to free them from slavery?” Tony’s aghast when Sai’yo tentatively proposes a rescue mission – read: takeover of Chulak – as the Ýmirheim restoration project begins to run in earnest. And they _nod_.



  1. 801\. Whereabouts  
Sai’yo’s only _half_ -milaða, and that half really doesn’t agree with milaða constitution. Fié and their other cousin want to keep this youngest one alive, though, so they’re hunting down the whereabouts of their shared grandmother, the Monarch before Fié’s mum, to… “make” Sai’yo a full milaða, as Tony understands it.



  1. 802\. Tack  
Tony bonds with Sai’yo slowly but surely, through caring for the pack and pet animals the palace keeps. Surprisingly, Sai’yo needs no tack to ride any of the mounts, and befriends even the prickliest and wariest animals so quickly. Oft-surfacing family trait, Fié claims: afinity with animals. Tony envies them.



  1. 803\. Label  
Tony doesn’t know what to label his relationship with Sai’yo. They’re certainly closer than someone’s newfound cousin to the said someone’s spouse should be. Then again, the milaðen seem to approach relationships in extremes: either extremely close or extremely distant. The absent former-monarch grandmum who ignored the devastations, for instance.



**Antarctica, 5th December 2016**

  1. 804\. Eloquent  
Elise, one of the big, white dino hybrids, is very… eloquent. With sign language alone, she chastises Tony about moping round and not preparing for Christmas. She’s just found out about the joys of that holiday, it seems, and in any case, “Looking only to the past ruins the present.”



  1. 805\. Bolster  
Time _totally alone_ with Fié usually means blanket-and-pillow fort for the sprogs, overseen by the other adults, who _also_ participate, sometimes. But apparently, Sai’yo’s… too new or something, too unfamiliar with the abundant cuddly relatives and friends, because they’re cocooned _alone_ inside a fort walled high with bolsters, during that.



**Antarctica, 25th December 2016**

  1. 806\. Formation  
The saner refugees of the magical civil war agree for the formation of a totally new government, although not even the sanest ones wish to return to UK any time soon. It’s a self-gifted Christmas present, in Tony’s satisfied opinion, as they approach the day in much better spirit afterwards.



  1. 807\. Triple  
Happiness shared is happiness doubled, people say. Apparently, the sprogs heard it from somewhere and disseminated it among themselves. And, just as Tony’s settling in among them – with Fié, of course, and dragging Sai’yo into the mix – they parade in front of him and ask how to _triple_ the happiness.



  1. 808\. Garden  
“Share with strangers, not only among you” is the idea that Fié finds rather on-the-spot for tripling-the-happiness plan. And the nearest “strangers” are the milaðen in charge of the cold-climate farm…. Well, with the abundant non-farm space still available, the sprogs come up with _making a garden for the farmers_.



  1.     1.       1. 809\. Mystery  
Tony finds it somewhat of a mystery, how _everyone_ begins to cheer up, while toiling in the cold to make a garden which they likely won’t use for themselves. But then, it’s also somewhat of a mystery, how he’s come this far… and how he’s growing excited with _gardening_ , too.




	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark and yet another war.

**Ýmirheim, 1st January 2017**

  1. 810\. Lady  
Shastla, Fié’s and Sai’yo’s grandmum, was found and retrieved by Shálir, the duo’s cousin. They don’t look like a warrior or a lady, Tony thinks, let alone a former monarch. They look _crazy_ , complete with spaced-out expression and disjointed words. But, _somehow_ , Sai’yo can understand them and guide them along.



  1. 811\. Maudlin  
“Mother had the curse of foresight as well, although not this severe, so I have already been… somewhat practised in treating someone in the throws of Seeing,” Sai’yo admits when Tony asks about how they’re handling their grandmum. It drives them _deeper_ into maudlin-land, though, which was already bad before.



  1. 812\. Challenge  
Amazingly enough, Shastla… clears up, for lack of a better word, _and agrees_ , when Tony challenges them to make Sai’yo a full milaða. Fié and Shálir are mad with him, though, afraid that the cousins get their grandmum back only for the grandmum to die transfering their life-force to Sai’yo.



**Antarctica, 3rd February 2017**

  1. 813\. Gratitude  
Elamir, Shastla’s lastborn and Shálir’s mum, ended up helping their mum… do whatever the mum did to remove the “half” part in Sai’yo’s milaða-ness. Tony’d rather remove himself from all the family drama, in any case, and he managed that. _Only_ , then Shastla finds him, to… express their _gratitude_? Awkward.



  1. 814\. Awkward  
And the awkward-fest continues when Sai’yo comes stumbling in behind their grandmum, looking the same but… also _different_ , and the first thing that comes to Tony’s mouth is, “Whoa, buddy, want me to set up a team of bodyguard for you? You’re now too pretty by an order of magnitude!”



**Ýmirheim, 3rd February 2017**

  1. 815\. Coffers  
Fié punishes Tony’s runaway mouth by kicking him back to Ýmirheim, far away from Sai’yo, with the order to “replenish the coffers.” And once there, Tony knows why they said that: In an Earth’s month’s time, _a fleet of space-faring battleships_ have been built _and equipped_. They’re going to war.



  1. 816\. Ally  
“We _can’t_ go to war like this, Fié. We’re barely recovered as it is!” Tony hisses when Fié asks his opinion about the fleet. “We need an ally – no, _allies_ – and… just… _lots more things_. What possessed you to do this, anyway? I meant them to be just home defence!”



  1. 817\. Sceptical  
Fié claims that many milaðen have offered themselves to avenge _Tony_ , in addition to rescuing more milaðen like Sai’yo, who’s been trapped in the service and/or territories of people like Apophis. Tony’s quite sceptical. “My past self was a _traitor_ ,” he points out most reasonably. “ _Nobody’s_ loyal to a traitor.”



  1. 818\. Incite  
“Besides,” Tony continues, “Apophis pro’ly got powerful buddies to back him up, aside from his own forces, if only so they won’t get targeted after him. Sure you’re ready to incite that level of hostility? Just for me and Sais?” If only he hadn’t just been from another war, though….



  1. 819\. Kin  
“You were always eager for battle, whether as Farbauty or Anthony,” Fié muses aloud. “What changed?” Tony doesn’t answer, at first. _Can’t_. But he knows. _Very well_. The magical community’s civil war has taught him to value his kith and kin, and _those_ usually fall before the enemies ever do.



  1. 820\. Aftermath  
“The magical war. The aftermath of that,” Tony lets out at last, tired with Fié’s prodding. Fortunately, it shuts them up. But then, maybe Fié _does_ understand. They’re involved in relief programme for the refugees, after all. They’re even one of the counsellors for the children among those broken people.



**Ýmirheim, 5th ebruary 2017**

  1. 821\. Grand  
Týo, who’s been away on a snooping mission round the realms along with their team, makes a face when Tony complains to them about the aggression Fié’s planning. “A grand thought,” they acknowledge, afterwards. “Good timing. The realms are quiet, even here and Asgard. But we are not ready yet.”



  1. 822\. Association  
It’s unnerving that, despite all he’s done to prove that he’s _not_ Farbauti, Ýmirheim’s military still looks to him about things, especially the war that Fié meant to instigate with Apophis. Their care is nice, but the association with a bloodthirsty, backstabbing, horribly ruthless brute people keep insisting he _was_ ….



**Malibu, California, United States, 7th February 2017**

  1. 823\. Missing  
Apparently, the missing link that’d make Ýmirheim ready for war is _another_ portable portal that could be set in a staging area far removed from the seat of Ýmirheim’s power, at least according to Týo and their team… but Fié _does_ agree. And _Tasha_ provides it, through a military contact.



  1. 824\. Commandeer  
Tony commandeers the spare portable portal, as US Air Force – the previous owner – has nothing planned for it. Howard Stark’s involved in the only US mission this portal saw, and finagled himself joint ownership for it. To gain full ownership, Tony “just” has to help make a space-worthy fighter jet.



  1. 825\. Fire  
Tony’s _not_ going to arm any one country on Earth with advanced tech, let alone fire power, though the jet’s _supposed_ to be earth protection. He comes under figurative fire from the US government, for that, but he remains firm. Fortunately, _this time_ , Rhodes doesn’t take a stance against him.



**Earth and Ýmirheim, February-March 2017**

  1. 826\. List  
Preparing for a galactic-scale war takes so much time and energy, especially when one wishes to defend one’s home _worlds_ at the same time. Tony never thought he’d have to deal with so many _tideous_ lists from logistics to back-up plans, however, in the process, and he sadly _can’t_ escape these.



  1. 827\. Sail  
Sailing with all the sprogs in a lake up high in the Adirondacks is a rare treat doubling as respite that Tony cherishes, among all the talks of war. He lavishes all his attention to each and every single one of them, and commits the day to memory most faithfully.



**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ☺ What do you think of the ride? I'd love to know!


End file.
